Transformations
by AutumnIllusion
Summary: Syaoran is just a regular guy so he asks Sakura to fix him up so this girl likes him. Sakura agrees in excange for tutoring. When Sakura and Syaoran's plans are going just right and both have a partner in love, is there any way things could go wrong?
1. The Deal

Transformations  
  
Chapter 1: The Deal  
  
Author's Note: Okay, here's my new fanfic. Um, hope you like it! Happy reading!  
  
"What'd you think of that science test?" Sakura asked the brown haired boy next to her as the two walked out of the classroom, into the busy and loud hallway.  
  
"Actually, it wasn't too bad. I didn't study much, but I get by," the boy said looking down at her, grinning.  
  
Sakura gazed into his grey eyes and laughed, "Yeah, I guess so,"  
  
A violet haired girl came up from behind them and leaned on their shoulders in between them, "Hey Sakura, hey Brendan,"  
  
"Hey Tomoyo," Brendan said back and nodded his head.  
  
"Oh, Sakura I was gonna ask you if you wanted to come with us to the beach this Saturday with Eriol, Yamazaki, Chiharu, Meilin, her new boyfriend Fred, and me? Oh, and you can come too Brendan," Tomoyo said taking her seat in the next classroom.  
  
Sakura beamed, "Oh, the beach, cool! Yeah, I can come," she said and took her seat.  
  
"And you?" Tomoyo asked Brendan and turned around in her seat.  
  
Brendan ran his fingers through his curly hair looking deep in thought, "Let's see.um, yeah I can come,"  
  
Tomoyo smiled and clapped her hands, "Yay! Okay, so we'll go around 10:00. We can meet by the park, 'kay?"  
  
Sakura and Brendan nodded in agreement. The teacher then started teaching them how to fold napkins. (This is home economics. I know most of us don't have it, including me, but whatever)  
  
"Okay, so let's split up into pairs with whoever's behind you," the teacher told the class waving her napkins around.  
  
Sakura turned around to face her classmate, Syaoran. He wasn't really popular or cool, but not really geeky. "Uh, okay so let's try to make that fan thing out of napkins," she muttered.  
  
Syaoran nodded and whipped out his napkin in front of him.  
  
The two worked in silence for a minute, Sakura's napkin flopping over and un-folding. Syaoran on the other hand had mastered the fan and was trying a flower.  
  
"Uh, Sakura?" Syaoran said interrupting her and causing her napkin to fall to the side.  
  
Sakura sighed and looking up, "Yeah,"  
  
"Uh, well, if you haven't noticed I'm not really popular or anything like that, and I know you're really good friends with Tomoyo and she knows exactly how to make someone look good, so well." Syaoran trailed off.  
  
"Huh," Sakura said, "oh, do you want to umm.err, had do I put it? Uh, change you're look so that girls like you? Uh, I mean not that people don't like you now," Sakura added.  
  
Syaoran looked down and nodded, "Yeah,"  
  
Sakura raised her eyebrow," But why don't you ask Tomoyo?"  
  
"Well, yeah I thought about that, but Tomoyo tends to.not be very good at keeping secrets," Syaoran said poking his napkin.  
  
Sakura bit her lip, "Well, I guess I could," "And you want to keep this a secret?"  
  
"Yeah," Syaoran nodded again. Sakura seemed to be good at this.  
  
"Okay, you can count on me. I know you like that girl Jenny, and I'll make her and any girl in this town fall for you. We may not know each other very well, but I keep my promises!" Sakura said and held her pinky out, "I pinky promise,"  
  
Syaoran almost fell off his chair, "But how did you know that I like,"  
  
Sakura shrugged, "I dunno, it's a gift I guess. But, actually, if I help you out, can you help me with something too?"  
  
Syaoran looked up from his notebook, suspiciously.  
  
"I noticed from behind me in math class that you get 100 on your test mostly. And, well you know that I'm not exactly good at math so could you tutor me?" Sakura blurted out.  
  
Syaoran leaned back on his chair, "Uh, well, eh, yeah, I guess,"  
  
"Okay, it's a deal," Sakura informed and held her pinky out again.  
  
"Gee, what's with you and pinky promises?" Syaoran muttered but held out his pinky.  
  
After that Syaoran helped Sakura with her fan, and by the end of class she had gotten the hang of it.  
  
~~~~~ Lunch ~~~~~  
  
Sakura looked down at her packaged lunch in her lap. It was covered with a pink cloth with bunnies on it holding flowers (if you know the manga "Wish" then you know what they look like) "Hmm.Toya made lunch today. Wonder if it's edible," Sakura smirked as she un-rapped it. She opened it and a warm smell came out, "Oh, rice balls, rice omlets, noodles, and." the smile on Sakura's face faded and was replaced as she pulled up something else, "taro roots, yuck, Toya did this on purpose! He knows I hate that. Oh well, I just hope it didn't stink up the other stuff," Sakura muttered. She picked up the taro roots and made her way to the garbage can.  
  
"Oh, you don't like those? Me neither," Brendan said from behind her.  
  
Sakura flicked the food into the garbage and turned around, "Yup, my stinky brother put 'em in there on purpose,"  
  
Brendan shifted and put his hands in his pockets, "Um, Sakura you know how we're going to the beach on Saturday, and we'll do you want to call it a date?" he muttered.  
  
Sakura blushed slightly but smiled, "Uh, okay, so it's a date. Well I guess I'll see you then," She waved and headed back to her friends by the grass.  
  
"Guess what?" Sakura said grinning as she returned.  
  
Tomoyo turned around, "Huh?"  
  
"Saturday is officially a date with Brendan," Sakura informed her crossing her arms.  
  
Tomoyo beamed, "Oh, finally, you're first date! I'll have to get it all on video. Oh, I remember my first date with Eriol. Let's see, we've been going about for about three months now," Tomoyo murmured thoughtfully.  
  
Sakura sweatdropped, "Well don't make a big thing out of this though, okay? I don't want people to get to excited about anything,"  
  
Tomoyo nodded and continued muttering things.  
  
Sakura sighed, this was perfect, Brendan was a really nice guy and everything was bound to go fine. Let's see, tomorrow's Friday. I can prepare then. Oh, wait, I'm going to Syaoran's place. Oh, well I can still find time, Sakura thought.  
  
~~~~~Friday 5:03 pm.~~~~~  
  
Sakura looked at the different bells until she found the one marked "Li". She rang it and looked up at the apartment building. The apartments looked pretty big and a little fancy.  
  
A minute later Syaoran's voice called out of the intercom and his face appeared on the small screen, "Hello?"  
  
Sakura spoke into it, "Uh, hi Syaoran,"  
  
Syaoran's figure waved at her, "Oh, yeah, come right up. I'm number 57 on the third floor,"  
  
Sakura nodded and the screen turned black. She opened the door and took the elevator to his apartment and knocked.  
  
Syaoran answered the door and led her into the living room. The curtains were drawn open and the wide window was open slightly, since it was surprisingly warm for the end of May.  
  
Sakura sat down on the green sofa and placed a large bag onto the glass coffee table, "I brought some of my brother's old clothes that that you could try," she pulled out a pile of shirts sweatshirts, jeans and other stuff.  
  
Syaoran rummaged through the pile and pulled out a pair of dark green cargo pants. There seemed to be lots of strings cords and pockets everywhere. Then he pulled out a big grey shirt that had the words "Thrasher" on them. "I'll try these," he told her and went to his room to try them on.  
  
Sakura nodded and looked around. On the fireplace mantel there was pictures of four older girls looking very happy and active. Next to it was a photo of a beautiful woman with long black hair lulled into a pony-tail, wearing Chinese style dress. She looking out at Sakura with a serious face, but Sakura could tell she was kind.  
  
The door of Syaoran's room opened and Syaoran walked out.  
  
Sakura barely noticed since she was still focused on the pictures.  
  
"Those four girls are my.weird sisters, and that's my mother," Syaoran said pointing to the picture of the beautiful woman.  
  
"Wow, you have four sisters? That's a lot. I only have my weird brother Toya. And that's your mother? She's so pretty." Sakura looked further down the mantel and saw two familiar faces, "Oh, yeah, Meilin is your cousin right?" she said pointing out a picture of her with a bird.  
  
"Yeah,"  
  
"Hey, is this you?" Sakura asked pointing out a picture of a small brown haired boy in the rain with amber eyes staring blankly into the camera.  
  
"Uh, yeah, when I was five. I think," Syaoran said scratching his head.  
  
"Okay, so let's see how you look," Sakura gaped for a second in amazement. Already she could see a big improvement from before. She examined him and nodded approvingly. "Lookin' good. Jenny will be loving you in no time,"  
  
Syaoran shrugged trying to hide the blush Sakura had formed by mentioning Jenny. He gestured to his large cargo pants that were dragging on the floor in a big pile, "Uh, but I think this is too big,"  
  
Sakura shook her head, "Nope, I think they should fit for a little bit. That's the right size,"  
  
Syaoran crinkled his nose and looked down at the unfamiliar pants, "What? They're in piles on the floor?!"  
  
Sakura's face stayed calm, "Yeah, I know," she said sarcastically, "So?"  
  
Syaoran gaped at her, "They're way too big! You could fit 2 bodies in each leg!!" He yanked his pants legs showing a large amount of extra space.  
  
Sakura shrugged, "That's what other people wear. That's what you asked for." Syaoran sighed, "Yeah, I guess so."  
  
Sakura laughed at his shock about the pants, "Come on, now that you've got some clothes, we're going to the mall. We can get you some of your own clothes, and I can teach you a little bit about how to act," Sakura told him opening the door for Syaoran.  
  
~~~~~The Mall~~~~~  
  
Sakura walked in with Syaoran and looked around. To their left there was a café shop, and to their right, an ice cream shop. Sakura dragged him over to a bench first. "Okay, I'm gonna send you over to that ice cream shop and see how you act and how you manage girls," she told him and pushed him towards the shop.  
  
"Wait, I've never "managed" girls before. What do I do?" Syaoran asked Sakura planting his feet into the ground.  
  
Sakura put her hands on her hips, "Too bad, I need to see how I can improve you. Go!" she ordered him and pointed to the shop.  
  
Syaoran sighed slumped over to the shop and sat down at one of the tables. Sakura could see he was sitting very straight and stiff, and his legs were stuck together like glue.  
  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, he needs self confidence," Sakura muttered shaking her head. For ten more minutes Syaoran stayed at the table without doing anything. Sakura was about to march over to him when Syaoran stood up and walked over to a girl with blonde hair and started talking. Sakura inched over to make sure she could hear what they said.  
  
"Um, hi, I saw you and I was just thinking, "Gee, that girl's almost as pretty as cauliflower," so, can I buy you an ice cream?"  
  
Sakura who was leaning against a nearby wall shook her head sadly, "Damn, he's really bad at this.cauliflower?"  
  
The girl raised her eyebrow as if she thought it was a joke, "Almost as pretty as cauliflower?! Excuse me, but I am much prettier than that, and cauliflower isn't even pretty. You really need to sort out your priorities!"  
  
Syaoran shifted uneasily, "So, can I buy you a chocolate ice cream cone? Or vanilla?"  
  
The girl gritted her teeth at him, "Sorry, but I can't be seen with a dork. Sure, you're cute, but stupid," she said in his face and stormed off.  
  
Syaoran shrugged and sighed walking back to the bench Sakura was at, "So, how bad did I do?"  
  
Sakura had been jotting things down on a notepad, and she reviewed them then responded, "We'll I caught some kinda stupid mistakes so I'll tell you about them while we look for clothes. After that you can practice at home. But I have a date tomorrow so we have to get stuff for me to wear!" Sakura told Syaoran as she dragged him into a clothing store.  
  
Syaoran smirked and grabbed her hand, "So, you have a date? I've known you a couple of years and I've never seen you with a boyfriend. Who is it?"  
  
Sakura blushed, "why should I tell you?"  
  
"Because if you don't I might teach you math the wrong way and you'll fail that class," Syaoran coolly responded with a smirk.  
  
"You wouldn't." Sakura said.  
  
"Maybe I wouldn't, but maybe I would. You don't know me well enough to judge me," Syaoran pointed out.  
  
Sakura grinned, "You're pretty smart aren't you? If you could act like this way with all girls you would be great. Well you'll be able to do that once I'm finished with you," she said, drifting of topic.  
  
Syaoran didn't drop it that easily though, "So? Who is it?" he kept asking all the way until they had reached the woman's bikini section.  
  
"Uh, Syaoran you might look strange here," Sakura said looking at their surroundings, "you can go check out guy's clothes for a few minutes," she said gesturing past ome clothing racks.  
  
Syaoran frowned, "You're not getting away without me knowing who your boyfriend is," he said, and looked around at the skimpy outfits he was standing against. "Uh, I'll get back to that later," he said rushing to the guy's side.  
  
Sakura laughed and started checking out bikinis and swimsuits for her date.  
  
Author's Note: So? What'd you think? How is it? Please review!! 


	2. The Routines

Transformations  
  
Chapter 2: The Routines  
  
Author's Note: Okay! Here's chapter 2! Happy reading!  
  
DISCLAIMER: Oh yeah, forgot to say this last time, CCS and none of the characters belong to me. Only Brendan, Fred, and Jenny, who I made up with my imagination.  
  
Sakura stepped out of the dressing room and looked at her figure in the mirror. She frowned as she turned around and muttered something like, "Nope, purple and yellow definitely aren't going to look good," before she retreated back to her dressing room.  
  
Syaoran sighed and looked at his watch: 6:34. He had already bought new clothes, and was waiting for Sakura to finish up.  
  
Sakura came back out in a dark green tankini that was see through on her shoulder blades. She spun around slowly and then turned to Syaoran, "What do you think?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, um, well I dunno. How should I know?" Syaoran said.  
  
"Well, if you saw me would you think I looked cute?" Sakura asked again as she slipped a light green cover up with cherry blossoms on it onto her waist.  
  
Syaoran put his hand on the back of his head and looked at her for a second, "Err, well yeah, I guess so,"  
  
Sakura turned back to the mirror and nodded, "Yeah, I'll take it,"  
  
Syaoran got up and stretched, "Finally," he muttered.  
  
Sakura changed back and went to buy her outfit. After that they went back to Syaoran's house and Sakura pulled out her notepad to read out the list of observations. Syaoran sat down and glanced up at the clock: 7:28.  
  
"Uh, Sakura, since this might take a little do you.want to stay for dinner?" Syaoran asked.  
  
Sakura looked at the clock and nodded, "Okay. Can I use your phone to call my house?"  
  
Syaoran nodded and showed her to the phone. Meanwhile he cooked some rice, beef, and vegetables.  
  
When they were done they sat down and started to eat.  
  
Sakura picked up a slice of beef and tasted it, "Oh, this is really good!"  
  
Syaoran nodded, "Yeah, well I've had lots of practice since I've been living by myself for a couple of years,"  
  
"Oh, that's why you're good at home economics," Sakura said eating rice happily.  
  
They ate in silence for the rest of the meal. After that Sakura went over to the living room to carry on with the lesson.  
  
She flipped the paper to her list and started to read off it, "Okay, first of all, that kind of flattering you tried to pull off is sooooo old. And if you're gonna do that, don't compare the girl to cauliflower! Even though you did that, you made it even worst because it sounded like she wasn't even as good as cauliflower,"  
  
Syaoran blushed, remembering his encounter at the ice cream shop.  
  
"Second, you need to work on your self confidence. Maybe if you took some kind of extra activity in school, so that you're used to being around groups," Sakura suggested.  
  
"Gee, I didn't know that these lessons meant all of my time," Syaoran murmured under her breath.  
  
Sakura continued the long list, but finally it ended. "Well I should go now. See you at school on Monday," Sakura said.  
  
"Yeah, and somehow, I'll find out who your date is," Syaoran reminded her. "Maybe I'll hide and watch you when you leave tomorrow,"  
  
"You can, but then I'll teach you how to be a dork instead," Sakura said with a serious face.  
  
"No you wouldn't" Syaoran responded matter-of-factly.  
  
"Well, you don't know me well enough to judge that," Sakura teased.  
  
"Not now, but I will later," Syaoran said with an innocent smile.  
  
"Well see you in school," Sakura said again, "And I how you don't see me till then either,"  
  
"We'll see about that," Syaoran teased and closed the door after her.  
  
~~~~~ Saturday: The playground ~~~~~  
  
Sakura ran to catch up to everyone else. It was 10:14 and she was late as usual.  
  
Tomoyo turned around and waved to her, "Finally you're here,"  
  
"Yeah, late as usual. Did you sleep through your alarm clock?" a voice teased kindly from behind her.  
  
Sakura turned around to look up at Brendan. She put on a pouty face as they all got into Eriol's car. (they split up into two cars) "No, it didn't go off. My brother probably turned it off," Sakura said.  
  
"Yeah, I believe you," Brendan said sarcastically and helped pack the cars.  
  
Sakura wandered over to the bushes and trees bordering the park and scanned them over, Syaoran better not be here, Sakura thought. She heard a rustle and pulled a leafy branch away, getting ready to face a hysterically laughing Syaoran. But instead, she pushed it to the side to discover a puppy run out and lick her fingers. Sakura sighed. She didn't know what she would have said if Syaoran had been there.  
  
"Hey Sakura, whatcha doing there?" Tomoyo asked curiously and joined Sakura. "We're gonna go soon," she said. "Oh, a cute puppy!"  
  
Sakura started to tell her that she was checking for Syaoran, but held her tounge for Syaoran's sake, when she remembered they had a deal.  
  
~~~~~ Syaoran's place ~~~~~  
  
Syaoran plopped down on his couch and surfed the TV channels while eating cereal. I wonder if I should have followed Sakura. I could have hid in the bushes or something. Nah, we had a deal. But it would have been fun. Really fun, Syaoran thought with a smirk as he settled on watching a cartoon with a cat in a circus. Yes, very dumb, but today was Saurday. The day to be dumb.  
  
~~~~~ Beach! ~~~~~  
  
The whole way to the beach everyone joked about what they were doing for the prom. Sakura listened to them excitedly, but suddenly realized that everyone who was with them were couples. This made her uneasy. Not because she didn't want to go to the prom with Brendan, she would love to. But this was their first date, and it was like everyone expected that they would last. She turned away and faced the window and told them she was just a little carsick.  
  
As they got out of the car by the seashore, Chiharu told them how Yamazaki was planning to spike the punch, but she had caught it in his house.  
  
"What? Then prom night would be even more fun!" Yamazaki tried to persuade the group as they reached the sand and were putting an umbrella up.  
  
Sakura looked out at the sparkling water and immediately forgot about the discussion, "Oh, it's sooo pretty,"  
  
Brendan walked into the calm water and waved to the others, "Come on in! Hey Sakura lets go swim out to those rocks,"  
  
Sakura grinned, "Yeah, okay," and swam out to the rocks with him. They weren't very far away, but they could talk privately there.  
  
Brendan clambered up onto the rock and helped Sakura up. Once they had settled down he started to talk, "Ya know what? I'm really glad Tomoyo invited me. Now we're on a date! You're a really good friend,"  
  
Sakura looked at him, "Yeah, me too. We can get to know each other better now,"  
  
The two stared back at the near shore and watched Tomoyo taping everyone else. They started talking about their interests and what high-school they were going to next year. Soon enough, Tomoyo was calling them back for lunch. They nodded and jumped back into the water and swam back to the shore.  
  
As everyone unwrapped their sandwiches that Tomoyo had provided Brendan asked Sakura, "Um, do you want to go to eat somewhere some time?"  
  
Sakura's face lit up and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds nice. Yeah, some time we should,"  
  
~~~~~ Sakura's house ~~~~~  
  
Sakura closed the door behind her and kicked off her flip-flops. She looked at the note on the door.  
  
It said: Hey monster,  
If you remember, which I doubt you do, Dad's got that lecture today and won't be back until really late tonight. I went out with some of my friends so you're gonna have to make dinner. I was gonna make you cook, but Dad said you can just take out some Chinese food. I should be home by 8:30. See you later.  
Toya  
  
Sakura read it then looked at her watch: 6:47. I'll get the food later. First I'll take a shower though, Sakura thought and headed upstairs.  
  
~~~~~ 7:56 ~~~~~  
  
Sakura put down her magazine and headed back downstairs. She pulled her shoes on and left for the Chinese food place. She passed Tomoyo's place, Eriol's place, and finally got to the store. She ordered her food and waited by the window patiently. She looked at the next people at the counter who were ordering. The girl turned around and saw Sakura.  
  
"Oh, hi Sakura!" Meilin said coming up to Sakura.  
  
The other one, a boy left the counter, "Huh? Oh Sakura, um, that's a coincidence running into you here," Syaoran said joining the two.  
  
"Wasn't it fun at the beach, Sakura? You looked like you had a good time with Brendan on your date," Meilin said.  
  
Sakura nodded in agreement, but bit her lip when she mentioned Brendan, and hoped that Syaoran wasn't listening.  
  
Unfortunately he heard every word and used the information happily, "Oh really? So that's the mystery man, huh? Brendan Chang?"  
  
Sakura blushed, "Yeah,"  
  
Syaoran smirked, "This should be interesting,"  
  
Sakura glared but went to get her food. "Actually, why are you guys taking out food tonight?" Sakura asked as she got ready to leave.  
  
"You know my boyfriend Fred is coming for dinner, so we're taking it easy," Meilin piped up.  
  
Sakura nodded, "Oh, cool. We'll see you later," she said and pushed the door open. "Oh yeah, Syaoran, I signed you up for soccer. You start Monday. I've seen you play soccer before, and so have they, because apparently they're okay with you being on the team for about a month. They want you for the championships. They have a practice Monday morning. You should go if you want to stay on coach's good side," Sakura added as she passed him. "And you have to do this because," She got closer to him and whispered in his ear, "we have a deal," Then left before Syaoran could protest anymore, and give the secret away to Meilin. The way home was more quiet. When she got home Toya looked like he had just got in, so they had dinner.  
  
~~~~~Monday at School: first period in home economics ~~~~~  
  
Sakura rushed into the classroom just before the late bell rang, and sprinted to her seat. She took out her notebook and started copying down some stuff on the board.  
  
"The partners you had yesterday will be your partners for the rest of the year, and today we're going to move on to making cupcakes," the teacher announced and started passing out some ingredients. Some students groaned and complained, and others high-fived with friends. Sakura nodded and turned around to face Syaoran. "So how was soccer?" she asked.  
  
Syaoran sighed, "Was okay. Scored a couple of goals,"  
  
"Did you talk or interact with anyone?" Sakura asked.  
  
Syaoran closed his eyes and shrugged as he leaned against the back of his chair, tipping it onto it's two back legs.  
  
Oh yeah, how would he know? Oh well, I'll ask Eriol. He's on the team too, Sakura thought and made a mental note to herself to ask him during lunch or something. Sakura examined Syaoran and nodded and smiled, "You look good toady," Sakura complimented him as she added sprinkles onto her cupcake.  
  
Syaoran muttered a thanks and went back to adding frosting carefully onto his cupcake.  
  
Sakura glanced to her right and noticed that Jenny seemed to be looking at Syaoran in and interested way. Sakura grinned and leaned over to Syaoran, "I think she likes you," she whispered.  
  
Syaoran looked up form his cupcake but Sakura slammed her hand down on top of his and stopped him before he could look at her, "Don't look at her yet. It'll look like I noticed and told you, which I did, but she shouldn't know that. In a minute look at her and smile. You should give this cupcake to her. Be nicer than you are to others so she knows she's special," Sakura mumbled to him under her breath.  
  
Syaoran nodded and continued working. Wow, Sakura's good at this. I really have to thank her some time. And hey, I made a new friend, Syaoran thought happily. By the end of class Syaoran hade made two cupcakes and he placed one in his backpack, and gave the other to Jenny who received it smiling.  
  
Sakura watched form a distance and gave him a thumbs up when she wasn't looking. Everything was going according to plan. Sakura and Brendan were going out, and Jenny liked Syaoran. Syaoran's a pretty nice person. Why shouldn't Jenny fall for him? Hey, with luck, we'll both have dates for the prom, Sakura thought.  
  
Author's Note: Here it is! What's on your minds? Review! 


	3. The Greetings and Meeting

Transformations  
  
Chapter 3: The Greetings and Meeting  
  
Author's Note: Okay! I'm in a good mood today, so here's chapter 3! Happy Reading!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS and the characters, CLAMP does. Wah! Too bad for me, I'll shut up, but after I remind you that I DO own Jenny, Jean, Brendan, and Fred. But that's all, and I only own those four, 'cause I made em up.  
  
Sakura looked at her clock. It was five minutes to 5:00pm. It was Syaoran's turn to tutor her.  
  
*Ding dong*  
  
"I'll get it," Sakura called down to Toya and ran down the stairs to see that Toya had already gotten the door.  
  
"Who are you?" Toya asked as if Syaoran were some bug.  
  
Syaoran frowned and glared at Toya, who was staring down at him. He could already tell that this person didn't like him, and he didn't either. "Li Syaoran," he growled.  
  
"Why are you here?" Toya asked and glared right back at Syaoran with dislike.  
  
"To tutor Sakura. It this the right house?" Syaoran replied calmly.  
  
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Toya pestered and squinted at Syaoran in disgust.  
  
Sakura sighed and walked up to them to try to divert their attention, "Err.well, this is my older brother Toya, and Toya, like he said, this is Syaoran,"  
  
Toya stopped staring at Syaoran and turned to Sakura, "It he really tutoring you?"  
  
"Yeah," Sakura admitted. "Umm, Syaoran, do you want to come in?"  
  
"Duh," Syaoran dryly responded and stepped inside.  
  
"Err.I have my textbook upstairs, so you want to study there?" Sakura asked and gestured to her room.  
  
Syaoran shrugged, "I don't care,"  
  
"Uh, okay, lets go," Sakura said and led Syaoran to her room. She closed the door behind her and pulled a few math books from her shelf.  
  
"So, do you think we can work on converting fractions to decimals first?" Sakura asked and sat down on the floor.  
  
Syaoran sat down next to her, "Sure. So, lets see.we had that study sheet that our teacher handed out last week, right."  
  
Toya made his way up the stairs quietly. He hissed when he found that the door to Sakura's room was closed, but decided to wait before he broke down the door to keep an eye on them. Toya pressed his ear against the door.  
  
"Here, I made some math equations, try it out, and I'll make a simpler study sheet," Syaoran said.  
  
Toya couldn't really hear through the door, and strained to hear better. Ugh.they really are talking about math, Toya thought. Might as well get comfortable, Toya thought and went back to the kitchen to get some popcorn and a soda.  
  
Sakura sighed, "I think I'm starting to get better at this,"  
  
Syaoran straightened out a few pieces loose-leaf paper and nodded, "Yeah, I think you've improved,"  
  
Sakura looked at her clock, "Wow, it's already 7:30. Uh, do you want to stay for dinner?"  
  
Syaoran looked around, "Err.well I guess so, but I dunno if your brother would like that,"  
  
Outside in the hallway Toya nodded, Well, at least he's smart enough to figure that out,  
  
Sakura smirked evily, "That's part of why I want you to stay," she joked. "Besides, I'll kick him if he protests. And, my dad will let you stay,"  
  
Syaoran leaned back against a wall and rubbed the back of his head, "Err.I guess so,"  
  
"Yay! Okay, I'm gonna help make dinner now. Wanna come downstairs? I'll tell Dad that your staying," Sakura said and opened the door.  
  
Syaoran nodded and joined Sakura.  
  
Toya scrambled for his life and grabbed his soda and popcorn, and sprinted for his room. Unfortunately he left a trail of popcorn behind him.  
  
Sakura stepped into the hallway and walked to the stairs, without noticing the popcorn. Syaoran followed her, but stepped on a popcorn, "Umm, why is there all this popcorn everywhere?  
  
Sakura looked in back of her and her smile faded to a glare, "Toya." she muttered and stopped into Toya's room where she kicked him in the knee. After that she calmly went back to Syaoran and led him to the kitchen. "Toya has to clean it up," she told Syaoran.  
  
By the table Fujitaka was reading the newspaper. "Hello Sakura, hello Syaoran, "(when he got home he met him)  
  
"Oh, you already made dinner?" Sakura asked as she looked at the stove which had a pot filled with noodles and a pan with some chicken in it.  
  
"Yeah, it should be ready now," Fujitaka said and went over to check the food.  
  
Sakura started to set the table, "Can you call Toya down here," she asked Syaoran who was helping her get plates, "oh, and Syaoran you don't have to help us,"  
  
Syaoran shook his head, "Nah, it's okay,"  
  
In a few minutes dinner was set and everyone was at the table. On one side Syaoran sat next to Fujitaka, and on the other side Sakura sat next to Toya. As they started to eat Toya whispered to Sakura, "So, that's who your boyfriend is? The one you went to the beach with? Gee, you have really bad taste,"  
  
Sakura shook her head, "No, he's just a friend. My boyfriend is Brendan," she told him matter-of-factly.  
  
The rest of dinner went fine, and Syaoran answered questions when asked, and everyone acted normally. Before Syaoran left, Sakura followed him outside, "So, I guess next time I'll go to your place to continue our lessons,"  
  
Syaoran nodded, "Yeah,"  
  
"Oh, and so, did you ask Jenny out?" Sakura added remembering earlier in the day.  
  
Syaoran looked down, "Uh, I was supposed to?"  
  
Sakura sweatdropped, "Err, yeah. Oh well, ask her out tomorrow,"  
  
Syaoran raised an eyebrow, "Ehh? I guess I'll try,"  
  
Sakura grinned at his innocently, "Good. I'll see you tomorrow," she said and went back inside.  
  
~~~~~ School the next day ~~~~~  
  
Sakura pushed Syaoran towards Jenny. Syaoran sighed and bit his lip and walked up to Jenny.  
  
"Hey Jenny," he said calmly.  
  
"Oh, hey Syaoran," Jenny said and walked back to her desk with him. "What's up?"  
  
"Umm, I was wondering, are you doing anything tomorrow night? Maybe we could go somewhere,"  
  
Jenny smiled sweetly, "Really, that sounds good. Okay,"  
  
Syaoran smiled, "Uh, okay then. I'll pick you up at 6:30," he said and walked back to his desk and started talking with a group of people.  
  
~~~~~ The next day, 6:00 pm. ~~~~~  
  
"You look great," Sakura assured Syaoran. She stood back to look at her work.  
  
Syaoran was wearing a dark green faded shirt with a dragon on it in faded black color, and baggy blue jeans with lots of zippers and pockets.  
  
Sakura ran to his room to get a jacket and handed it to him, "So where are you guys going?"  
  
Syaoran took the jacket, "Well I was going to go to the boardwalk with her and we could go on a few rides, and eat somewhere casual around there,"  
  
Sakura smiled, "Sounds good. I'm so proud of you!" she joked and gave Syaoran a friendly hug. "I know Jenny will have a great time with you, so be brave, and take chances!" Sakura coached. I really believe that Syaoran will make it to prom. Besides, he really is a nice guy, he just needs to stand out more, Sakura thought.  
  
Syaoran blushed by her actions and looked at the clock, "I should go soon. Well, thanks for coming over here again, Sakura," he said and grabbed his keys.  
  
"Yeah, I can leave with you," Sakura said and skipped into the hallway with Syaoran. They walked to the elevator and rode in silence.  
  
"Good luck Syaoran," Sakura told Syaoran when they had walked outside into the sidewalk.  
  
"Thanks," Syaoran said and went to his car. He drove to Jenny's house and got out. Right on time: 6:30.  
  
*Ding dong*  
  
"I'll get it," a voice said from inside. A younger girl, about eight opened the door. "Uh, are you Syaoran?"  
  
Syaoran nodded, "Yeah, is Jenny there?"  
  
The little girl nodded, "Yup, she'll be right down. JENNY, SYAORAN's here!" she shouted up the stairs.  
  
Jenny came down the stairs wearing a pair of tight jeans and a no-sleeved orange top with a leaf printed on it. Her black hair was pulled into a tight bun, except for two long strands of hair that were left down. She grinned when she saw Syaoran standing by the door, "Hi Syaoran," She stepped out next to him, "See ya later Jean," she waved to the little girl and closed the door. "That's my sis," she explained.  
  
"Cool. I don't have any siblings, "Syaoran said and opened the car door for Jenny.  
  
Jenny giggled and sat down. "So, where're we going?"  
  
Syaoran turned the key, and the car started up, "Well, how about we go to the boardwalk. We can check out the rides, and find a place to eat,"  
  
Jenny nodded, "Sounds good,"  
  
The whole ride to the boardwalk the two talked about things like school, interests, and.what ride they should go on! When they go there they had decided to go on the roller coaster first. They waited in line, and soon enough, they were in the front row, and they were climbing the first drop. (It was a wooden rollercoaster) "  
  
Jenny looked down and pointed to the ferris wheel, "Oh, wanna go on that later? We can get dinner, and eat it when we go on it," she suggested.  
  
Syaoran leaned over and nodded, "Okay," He looked over the side. They were pretty high up. I bet Sakura would like this view.but she might get freaked out that it's so high up, Syaoran thought, but was brought back to reality when he saw the long steep drop ahead of them, "Oh, shi-" he started to mutter when the car lurched over the tip and zoomed down and then went back up and turned a big turn.  
  
~~~~~ After the ride ~~~~~  
  
"Wow, that was fun, right?" Jenny asked and looked at Syaoran with a big smile.  
  
"Yeah, it was really loud too," Syaoran joked. Gee, better make sure Brendan doesn't take Sakura on a date here, he thought silently. "Let's go get some food now," he suggested.  
  
"Sure. How 'bout over there?" Jenny asked and pointed to a Nathan's hot dog place.  
  
~~~~~ The ferris wheel ~~~~~  
  
Syaoran opened the door of the booth for Jenny. She stepped inside, and Syaoran followed.  
  
The ferris wheel jerked and started to move. Syaoran took a bite out of his hot dog and looked across from him at Jenny. She looked so pretty when she was looking out of the wide window into the dark sky, lighted up with all of the lights from rides and restaurants.  
  
They both ate their food and enjoyed the view inside the booth and suddenly Syaoran noticed something: All the other couples in the booths were.kissing, hugging, or some kind of thing. He gulped, but remembered that Sakura would have told him to be brave. Syaoran got up and sat down next to Jenny. "You cold?"  
  
Jenny turned away from the window and nodded, "Kinda," she said and grinned.  
  
Syaoran gave Jenny his jacket and wrapped his arm around Jenny. The two continued talking.  
  
~~~~~ End of the date, at Jenny's house again ~~~~~  
  
"Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow," Jenny said. She turned to Syaoran and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  
  
Syaoran blushed and nodded, "Yeah, see you tomorrow,"  
  
"I had a good time. Maybe we should do this again sometime," Jenny said and grinned.  
  
"Yeah, we should. I look forward to it," Syaoran told her and watched as Jenny went back inside. He walked back to his car and drove back home. All the way back he considered sticking his head out the window and yelling "I'm the luckiest guy on earth!"  
  
~~~~~ Sakura's house (this is another day, lets make it Friday) ~~~~~  
  
"Oh damn, I gotta get ready for my date! Brendan's coming in like half an hour!" Sakura squealed and got up from where she was sitting next to Syaoran working on a math sheet.  
  
"Uh, so I guess I'll go now," Syaoran said and got up also.  
  
Sakura opened her closet and took out two dresses, "Nah, you don't need to. Actually, can you write down some tips that we were using?" she asked and looked at herself in the mirror. "Which one?" she asked Syaoran and turned around. In her left hand she held a light pink dress with no straps. In her right hand she held a dark blue dress with white waves stitched in on the bottom.  
  
Syaoran gathered some of his books and stuffed them in his bag, "Uhh.how should I know?"  
  
Sakura glared at him playfully. "Fine, go downstairs while I dress,"  
  
Syaoran nodded and left her room.  
  
Sakura grinned and decided which dress to wear, and started putting on makeup. She combed her auburn hair and the pulled a small section from each side back and pinned it together, so that not so much hair fell to the front, and then clipped a small butterfly clip on one side.  
  
~~~~~ twenty minutes later ~~~~~  
  
Sakura stepped off the last step of the stairs and entered the living room, where Syaoran was scribbling some notes for Sakura.  
  
Syaoran looked up at Sakura when he heard her footsteps, and tried not to leave his mouth hanging in surprise at how.different she looked. Sakura had decided on wearing the blue, and had a light sweater on, that was obviously just for style, because it was see throughish. She was also wearing black high heeled sandals.  
  
"How'd I look?" Sakura asked nervously.  
  
"What'd you think?" Syaoran joked with a smirk.  
  
"So I look good?" Sakura asked sitting next to him on the couch.  
  
"Yeah," Syaoran responded and handed Sakura the papers that he was writing on.  
  
"Thank you for that compliment," Sakura said and walked him to the door. "I must have taught you well, because you seem to have a good idea of when a girl looks good," she joked.  
  
Syaoran rolled his eyes playfully and waved as he left and started the walk home.  
  
Sakura watched as he turned the corner, out of sight, and closed the door. Two minutes later the door bell rang, and Sakura who had just taken a sip of water from a water bottle twisted the cap back on and rushed to the door. "Hey Brendan," she said.  
  
Brendan stood at the door in a dark blue buttoned shirt with black pants on (kinda dressy casual) "Hey Sakura. Ready to go?"  
  
Sakura nodded and slung her arm around Brendan's. "Yup,"  
  
Brendan led her to his car and they drove away. "We're going to this really good sea food restaurant by the seashore," he told Sakura and grinned, "it's famous for their crab. Guess what it's called?"  
  
Sakura turned away from looking out the window, "Err.umm.that isn't descriptive enough! I give up," she teased.  
  
"Okay, it's 'Shore food sea house'" Brendan told Sakura and exited the expressway, now close to the sea.  
  
Sakura gasped, "Oh, that place? I know there, that place is supposed to be really good! Cool!"  
  
Brendan grinned, "Yeah, I got my aunt to reserve a table, since she works there," he explained.  
  
The two nodded and soon they were at the restaurant. Brendan helped Sakura out and they walked into the big place and were seated by a waiter.  
  
Sakura looked around excitedly, Wow, I'm actually sitting here, with Brendan, on a date! This seems so perfect! She thought and ordered her food.  
  
The rest of the dinner went great. They talked about normal things like before they started going out, and .I dunno, things.  
  
Gee, I actually didn't know that much about Brendan. All I knew was that he's popular, has a girlfriend most of the time, and blah, blah, blah, but he's really a nice person. Well, I found that out when we started to be friends, but he sounds really cool, Sakura thought. "Actually, how long have we known each other?" Sakura asked and folded her napkin into a fan.  
  
"Gee, I'm not sure, well, we probably started to be friends about a month ago," Brendan guessed and watched Sakura finish folding her napkin into a perfect fan (from the teaching of Syaoran of course!) "Wow, you've improved at folding napkins, Sakura. I remember you said that you weren't good at it a few days ago,"  
  
Sakura looked up and smiled sweetly, "Heh, I was. But, Syaoran's my home economics partner, and he's really good at it, so he helped me out," she added and laughed.  
  
~~~~~ Sakura's house at the end of the date ~~~~~  
  
Sakura stepped up to the front door and turned to face Brendan, "Thanks for a really great night,"  
  
Brendan grinned, "Your welcome Sakura,"  
  
They stood in silence for a second, before they both leaned forward a little and their lips met for a spit second and they broke away..  
  
Toya stuck his head out of the window and glared, "Hey, the show's over!" he shouted down to them.  
  
Sakura blushed and looked up at Toya's window, "Toya! Go away!"  
  
Toya shook his head, "Fine, but I'm only giving you a minute," he warned and stuck his head back inside.  
  
"Err.that's my overprotective brother," Sakura explained and laughed nervously.  
  
Brendan raised his eyebrow, "Yeah so I saw. Aheh. Um, well, you know that the prom's coming up next Wednwsday, so do you want to go with me?"  
  
Sakura looked at him, "It is? Oh, yeah. I'm losing track of time. Agh, I didn't even answer your question, sure, I'll go with you," she said and smiled. Oh yeah, Tomoyo, Meilin, and Chiharu already have dates. I can't believe I forgot when they had just reminded me! Sakura thought.  
  
"So, I'll see you in school on Monday," Brendan said and waved. He haded back to his car and drove away.  
  
Sakura went back inside and sighed, "I've got a date for prom!" she squealed.  
  
"Hey, Tomoyo called and said that they're going to this festival on Sunday with everyone else, and she invited you and your boyfriend Brendan," Toya told Sakura and closed the refrigerator with an ice cream cone in his hand.  
  
"Really, okay then, I'll go call her back to tell her I'm coming!" Sakura said and grabbed the ice cream out if Toya's hands before darting back to her room. She called Brendan on his cell phone, and he agreed to go, and after that she called Syaoran.  
  
"Hey Syaoran," she said into the phone.  
  
"Huh? Oh, hey Sakura. What's up?"  
  
"Wanna came with everyone to this festival on Sunday? You can bring Jenny too. And ask if she wants to go to prom with you," Sakura said.  
  
"Err. Okay. And I guess I'll ask Jenny when I call her,"  
  
"Okay. See you Sunday!" Sakura said and hung up.  
  
Syaoran held the phone listening to Sakura, and heard her hang up, "Egh? That was weird," he mumbled and hung up the phone and called Jenny, who accepted both the invitation to the festival, and to the prom.  
  
Sakura called Tomoyo next. "Hey Tomoyo,"  
  
"Hey Sakura," Tomoyo responded.  
  
"I'm gonna come with you too the festival. And Brendan is too.and Syaoran, and maybe Jenny," Sakura said in one breath.  
  
"Oh, okay, the more the merrier!" Tomoyo said happily.  
  
"Oh, and I've got this great news to tell you, but I'm going to be evil and tell you later," Sakura informed Tomoyo.  
  
"Awww.fine. Well, see you later," Tomoyo said and hung up.  
  
"See ya later," Sakura also said and hung up to get ready for bed.  
  
Author's Note: Aww.Syaoran's a happy, and kawaii guy now! So is Sakura! Next chapter: prom preparation. And Sakura's gonna meet Jenny! Oh.and now Syaoran's on Toya's bad side.I know, it's gonna end up being S&S, don't worry. So.review, and check out my other stories! 


	4. The Preperation Juggling

Transformations  
  
Chapter 4: The Preparation Juggling  
  
Author's note: Okay, here's chapter 4! It's not too interesting this chapter, I mean, not much happens, but next chapter is gonna be really important! Hope you like it though! Thankies to people that reviewed! It's more than all of my other fics combined! Hehehe, but thanks! It's nice to know that at least someone's reading your stuff! Hehehe!  
  
DISCLAIMER: As you've heard, I dun own CCS or the characters. BUT, I do own Jenny, Fred, and.Brendan (yup, almost forgot bout him) AND, I only own those three 'cause I made them up with my imagination. Okay, on to the story!  
  
Sakura's slim form lay in her bed in the dark room. Outside no one was on the street yet, since it was only 5:00 am. But every once I a while a woman or man would walk past, on their way to work. Sakura smiled in her sleep. She was having a dream.about prom.  
  
~~~~~ 4:00 pm. ~~~~~  
  
Sakura was now wide awake, and changed, since she was going to meet everyone at Tomoyo's house before they went to the festival. She was wearing a blue jean skirt, and a white short sleeved shirt with cherry blossoms printed on it. She slipped on a pair of clogs and a handbag, and stepped outside. It was a warm and sunny day, and lots of people were out. To bad I don't have time to stop by one of those outdoor cafés, Sakura thought as she passed an arrangement of tables on the sidewalk, most of them filled up. She continued to walk, and after a few blocks, reached a big mansion. Sakura was used to the routine, and calmly rang the bell by the side of the gate and turned towards the television intercom, ready for someone's face to appear any moment.  
  
Sure enough, a maid answered it, "Welcome to Daidouji residence," the woman said. "who's this?"  
  
"Sakura. I'm here to see Tomoyo," Sakura responded.  
  
"Oh, hello Sakura. Going with Ms. Tomoyo to the festival? You'll find her in the game room," the maid told Sakura before the intercom flicked blank and the gate opened.  
  
Sakura nodded and walked inside, where another maid stood waiting to take her jacket.  
  
"Miss, would you like me to take your jacket?" she asked.  
  
Sakura looked back, "Oh, no thanks. But thank you," she said and headed for the back of the mansion to the game room. She opened the door to see that Eriol, Meilin, Fred, Chiharu, Naoko, Rika, and Yamazaki had already arrived.  
  
Tomoyo was sitting on the armchair that Eriol was sitting on, and both were trying to figure out some crossword puzzle, Meilin, Fred, and Brendan were concentrating on beating each other in a friendly, but competitive video game, Yamazaki was telling Naoko a lie about video games, and Chiharu was persuading Rika that they were lies.  
  
"Hey Sakura," Tomoyo greeted Sakura. She jumped off the chair, much to Eriol's disappointment.  
  
"Hey, Tomoyo. Am I late? Almost everyone's here already," Sakura said.  
  
"Nah, and Syaoran and Jenny are still coming," Tomoyo pointed out.  
  
As soon as Tomoyo said that Syaoran walked in with Jenny. "Hey," Syaoran said.  
  
Tomoyo and Sakura turned around, "Oh, hey you guys," both said.  
  
"Well, I guess we should get going," Tomoyo announced to the occupants of the room. Everyone nodded, except Meilin and Fred.  
  
"NO!! We need more time.must win!" Fred said without taking his eyes off the screen.  
  
"Awww.one more minute.YAY!" Meilin cheered as she let go of the controller. "Boo yah! I won!" she teased Fred who smirked.  
  
"What do you have to say?" Meilin asked him.  
  
"Nothing to say," he responded and kissed her on the forehead, "just that you look cute when you're a sore winner," he added slyly.  
  
Meilin crossed her arms, "Whatever. I'll let you off this time,"  
  
Brendan who was also playing walked to Sakura, "Hey Sakura,"  
  
Sakura skipped over to him, "Hey Brendan. You dropped out of the game before?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, they're way too into it," he said and laughed.  
  
Sakura looked behind them at Meilin and Fred, "Yeah, but that's cute!" she laughed.  
  
~~~~~ The festival! ~~~~~  
  
Sakura walked next to Brendan, closely behind the others. The festival area was quite crowded, for most of the town had the common sense to go outside. Sakura slipped past a big woman with a handful of bags and spotted a ring toss booth, with fluffy stuffed animals for the prizes. "Oh, look over there! I'm gonna go play!" she said, "anyone want to come with me?" she asked and secretly pushed Syaoran towards the booth. "Get Jenny one!" she whispered to him. Most people joined her. Sakura got her rings, but out of the five chances she got, she only got one of them. "Aww." she mumbled and backed away to watch the others.  
  
"Here, let me try," Brendan said and stepped up to the booth. He laid his money on the counter and took his rings. He got all of them! Next to him was Syaoran, who had also gotten all rings in.  
  
Soon enough Syaoran had gotten an orange bunny rabbit, and a small pink bear. "Here Jenny," he said and gave her the bunny.  
  
"Oh, that's so sweet Syao," she said and hugged the blushing Syaoran.  
  
Syaoran nodded and finished his turn. He walked over to Sakura, mostly hidden by the crowd, "Here, I know you like pink, and, well, I don't think I want to keep this," he said and handed her the pink bear. (Aww.the bears!)  
  
"Really? Thank you Syaoran. You're sweet," she told him and patted him on the shoulder.  
  
Syaoran blushed a light pink and walked back to Jenny, who was watching an intense game of ring toss between Meilin and Fred.  
  
Sakura carefully placed the little bear in her bag and watched Brendan.  
  
Brendan was almost out of rings. By the time he was finished he had gotten a green bear, and a blue fuzz ball. "Well, I wanted to get you pink, but they ran out of pink bears, so here's a green one," Brendan told Sakura and gave her the green bear.  
  
Sakura shook her head, "That's okay," she assured him and thanked him. (but she didn't say he's sweet! Hahahaha!)  
  
After that they kept walking, and by the outdoor stage there was a singer performing. They stopped there, and by now the sun was setting, and they decided to get dinner from some food stalls. The guys went to get the food, and Sakura sat down next to Jenny. "Hi, I'm Sakura," she said.  
  
"Oh, hi Sakura, I'm Jenny.well you might already know that," she added and laughed.  
  
"Well, this was fun, right?" Sakura asked. She looked at the orange bunny that Jenny was holding, "oh, can I see that bunny? It's so cute!"  
  
Jenny nodded, "Yeah, this is really nice, and sure you can see it. Can I see that green bear?" she asked and gestured to the green bear Sakura was holding carefully in her arms.  
  
"Oh, sure," Sakura said. The two exchanged stuffed animals.  
  
"Syaoran gave me it," Jenny explained.  
  
"Cool, and Brendan gave me mine," Sakura added.  
  
The two traded back and talked about.girl stuff, thorough out dinner. Finally the concert was over, and everyone decided that they should go home. "Oh, Jenny, well, Tomoyo, Meilin, Naoko, Chiharu, Rika, and I were planning to go over to Tomoyo's house to prepare for prom on Wednesday. Do you want to join us?" Sakura asked.  
  
Jenny grinned, "Really? Sure, I'd love to," she agreed and walked next to her. Wow, it's great. Syaoran has a girlfriend, and she's really nice. I'm glad he chose someone so kind, Sakura thought.  
  
~~~~~ School on Wednesday ~~~~~  
  
The whole grade was chatting excitedly about the prom. It was now the only thing students could think about. Even though they still had to wait another week until they stepped out of the school.for good most likely, no one cared. Hallways were now the place to shop for dates, arrange meeting times, and yell important messages across the hall. Girls were telling friends about dates, and exchanging makeup tips. Boys were trying to get last minute dates by asking every girl in the hallway, and telling their friends how their date was 'better'. The days were also warm now, and the windows were wide open, carrying the sounds of laughter, competition and insanity out into the streets nearby. Teachers were just trying to keep the school sane.  
  
"Please sit DOWN!" the home economics teacher pleaded. She whipped a bead of sweat from her forehead and bit her lip trying to think of how she could get her class to cooperate when she had unsuccessfully tried at least twenty times, "Okay, if your not in your seats with your books open by the time I count to three, I'm making a complaint, and you may not be able to go to prom!" she threatened. Immediately the class ran to their seats and flipped their books open. "Thank you. Now we are going to make flowers to display on the food tables for prom. I will pass out the materials, and I expect you all to have one finished by the end of class," the teacher said, and started to pass things out to the class.  
  
Syaoran leaned forward and tapped Sakura on the shoulder, "Hey Sakura,"  
  
Sakura turned around, "Yeah?"  
  
"Can you come over to my apartment to help me get ready for prom?" Syaoran said. He thought abut what he had said and decided that it sounded VERY weird.  
  
"Uhh.well I guess so, but I have to go to Tomoyo's house too. Can I come right after school?" she asked.  
  
Syaoran shrugged, "Sure,"  
  
The two talked about how excited they were, and Syaoran successfully made a green flower. Sakura, had made more what looked like a pink used tissue. "Err..Syaoran, can you help me out?" she asked and held up her 'masterpiece'.  
  
Syaoran smirked, "You don't need help with that, Sakura. It looks like a wad of wasted paper already. I think that's good enough," he teased sarcastically.  
  
Sakura glared at him, "Come on Syaoran! Please?"  
  
Syaoran nodded, "Duh I'll help you. I thought we were good enough friends for you to know that," he said and grinned at her.  
  
Sakura smiled and handed him a pink piece of paper, and in a few minutes, it was a pretty flower! Yeah, I'm glad we made this deal. I met Syaoran! I hope we keep in touch in college, since we're going to the same one, Sakura thought and watched him thoughtfully.  
  
Syaoran finished the flower, "Okay Sakura, here it is," he said and showed her the flower. He handed it to Sakura and for a split second his fingers brushing over her milky white skin. She's actually pretty! Haha, well duh she is, but I don't like.like, like her, the thought.  
  
Tomoyo meanwhile was working with Eriol on the flowers. They were very good at it and had made at least a dozen. "Hey, Eriol, you're Syaoran's friend, right?" Tomoyo asked.  
  
Eriol looked up at Tomoyo, "Yeah. Why?"  
  
Tomoyo leaned closer, "It seems strange. Sakura seems to be disappearing a lot lately. I mean, she seems busy,"  
  
Eriol nodded, "Yeah, you mean you think they're hanging out? I agree. It's a been the same with Syaoran,"  
  
"Wonder what they're doing," Tomoyo mumbled. The two then went back to their flowers, both trying to think of answers.  
  
~~~~~ Lunch ~~~~~  
  
Two boys walked across the lawn.  
  
"Hey, ya know in class, Syaoran?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Doesn't it seem like he's always with that girl Sakura?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess. But he's going out with Jenny,"  
  
"Well, maybe they're good friends," one voice concluded.  
  
(sry, just wanted to get the point across that people are starting to get suspicious about how they're always hanging out all of a sudden)  
  
~~~~~ Syaoran's place after school ~~~~~  
  
Syaoran came out of his room with a dressy casual dark green shirt that buttoned down, and a pair of black pants. (I dunno, but he's supposed to look really cute!)  
  
Sakura was sitting by the couch and got up when she heard him coming. "Syaoran, why'd you tell me to come over? You look great already, without my help!" she told him.  
  
Syaoran raised his eyebrow, "I do?"  
  
Sakura grabbed him and made him sit down with her on the couch. "Yeah, you always have. You just need to be confident," she coached. "I can think of a million reasons why Jenny, or any girl should like you,"  
  
Syaoran smirked, "Why am I being coached by a girl about love?"  
  
Sakura grinned, "Because you made a deal," she told him matter-of-factly.  
  
Syaoran grinned and watched as Sakura rummaged through his closet until she pulled out a brown suit. She's actually a really nice person.I mean, she's kind, smart, sporty, and everything. That's why.I think (oh, what'd you think he's gonna say?) she's perfect for the deal. She's really a miracle worker. Brendan should be feeling lucky, he thought.  
  
~~~~~ Tomoyo's mansion~~~~~  
  
Tomoyo walked out of the tiny salon in her mansion. Her hair was up in a bun, and only a few wisps of her dark hair were left down. She was wearing a lavender dress that reached her ankle, and held a pair of purple pumps in her hands. She walked out and made her way down the hallway, and was greeted by Meilin, who was wearing a fiery red shiny tight dress. It only had one strap on the shoulder, and ended right under her knee. Meilin was already wearing high heeled shoes, so when she ran, her shoes clicked against the white marble floor, making a loud ringing sound. "Hey Tomoyo, where's Sakura?" she asked.  
  
Tomoyo walked into a room that had a table full of cosmetics, and a wardrobe on the back. She went over to the mirror by the table, and put long dangling earrings on, "Oh, she told me that she had some business to take care of," Tomoyo told Meilin. "Actually, she's been a little weird these past few weeks, but I trust she'll be here soon,"  
  
At that moment, Sakura walked into the room, "Hey you guys, sorry, I had to- "  
  
"Take care of something. We know," Meilin and Tomoyo said at the same time.  
  
"Err..yeah," Sakura said. She held up the shopping bag she was holding, "I'm gonna take a shower, and then change okay?"  
  
Tomoyo nodded, "Okay, but Rika's using the one on this floor, so go to one of the others,"  
  
Sakura nodded, "Yeah, Naoko and Chiharu told me when I came in," she said and decided to go up to the next floor. No one was one the next floor, so Sakura quickly reached the large bathroom. She took a warm shower, and changed into her dress. It was a light pink dress, but it gave a white kind of glow. It was no sleeved, but a transparent kind of fabric was trailing from the side of the sleeve (though it's not much of a sleeve), down to her waist. The lower part of the dress wasn't too flared, but had a long slit on the side that went from her knee to the end, near her ankle. Then she put her regular clothes back into her bag and went back to the others. Now everyone was in the same room, putting makeup, and accessories on. Sakura spotted Jenny in a light orange dress with spaghetti straps. The dress was very fitting, and showed her figure, but wasn't too tight. Her hair was tied into two buns in the back o her head, and she had added sparkles. "Hey Jenny, you look great," she said.  
  
Jenny picked up a light red lipstick, "Really? Thanks, you look great too,"  
  
Sakura started to look through the cosmetics that were displayed on the table, but Tomoyo cut in.  
  
Sakura, can I do your hair and makeup? Please? Its prom night and making your dress is only half I can do to help you look great," Tomoyo blurted before Sakura could say anything. She had done her face already, and altogether she had created a kind of lavender and white look. Her lips were a sparkly light purple, matching her eye liner. She had added a tint of silvery-white blush on, but not enough to make her look too pale. Instead, it gave her a kind of angelic look.  
  
Sakura put her finger to her chin, as if she was in deep thought, "Hmm.why would I want to let my best friend, and great designer do my hair and makeup for prom night?" she said sarcastically. "Of course Tomoyo!" she said and let Tomoyo guide her to a set of chairs on the other side of the room.  
  
Tomoyo sat Sakura down and started to do her best friends hair.by the time Tomoyo was done with Sakura, everyone was watching, since they had finished.  
  
"Err.Tomoyo, you're not doing something too fancy, are you? I mean, it's only prom," Sakura said, confused that Tomoyo was still doing her face.  
  
Tomoyo looked over her shoulder at the others, "It isn't too much, right?"  
  
Meilin grinned, "Nah, If it was we would have stopped you a long time ago," she teased slyly.  
  
"Yeah, see? And.there. All done," Tomoyo finished.  
  
"Go look in the mirror Sakura," Jenny told her and dragged her to the full length mirror.  
  
"You look great," Chiharu assured her and followed with the rest of the group.  
  
Sakura raised her eyebrow and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her pink lips were now a more sparkly pink, and her eye shadow was a shade of light pink, and a little silvery. Her cheeks were tinted pink also. The back of her hair had been pulled back and pinned with a small bobby pin, so it was hard to tell what was holding it up. Part of the many loose strands of hair that usually waved around her face were tied up in two small buns on the side of her head. Sakura grinned in surprise, "Wow, Tomoyo, you didn't have to spend so much time on it, but thanks anyway!" she hugged her friend.  
  
"Okay, but we've gotta go downstairs. The guys should be coming to pick us up around now," Naoko pointed out and opened the door for everyone. The group went downstairs, all eagerly chattering about how excited they were. When they got to the first floor they all went to the large living room. Sakura went over to the window with Jenny to see if they were coming. No site of them yet.  
  
"I wonder what Syao's gonna be wearing," Jenny pondered as she watched a couple heading to the hotel they were having the prom at.  
  
Oh, I can tell you that. He's wearing a dark green button-down shirt and black pants. Don't worry, he looks very cute, Sakura thought, but held her tongue. "Well, I'm not sure, but I'm sure he'll look great," she said.  
  
"Oh, but umm.you don't mind me calling him Syao, do you? I mean, if you don't want me to than I can." Jenny added worried.  
  
"Huh? Oh, that's fine with me. It's cute you have a nickname for him," Sakura pointed out happily.  
  
Jenny grinned, "Yeah, and I trust you that he's gonna look really cute. You guys seem to be really good friends. You hang out together a lot," she observed.  
  
Sakura blushed, "well, we're friends, but I don't think we're really good friends. Well just help each other out with stuff, and everything,"  
  
Jenny nodded and turned back to the window. Yeah, they really are good friends. Maybe they just don't realize it, she thought and looked down at her hands.  
  
Sakura looked at Jenny, "Hey, what's up?"  
  
Jenny looked up and put on a smile, "Nah, just thinkin' 'bout how cute Syaoran's going to look," she lied.  
  
Sakura nodded, "Yeah, he will," she murmured. Then she shook her hands, "Well, yeah he will, but Brendan, he's gonna look great too," she added and blushed. Syaoran's cute, but so is Brendan. And he's my boyfriend, she reminded herself.  
  
"Hey you guys," a voice said from the other side of the window and knocked lightly on the window, right next to Sakura's head.  
  
"HOE?! Oh, hi you guys!" Sakura said when she noticed the guys standing outside. "That wasn't funny Syaoran," she added when she saw that it must have been him, since he seemed to be cracking up.  
  
"What? It wasn't me, it was Brendan," Syaoran said protecting himself.  
  
"Really? Brendan!' she scolded playfully.  
  
The girls then went to meet them by the door. Before they left, a maid took pictures. Then all the couples linked arms and headed to the school.  
  
Jenny leaned on Syaoran's shoulder as they walked. I know Sakura's a really nice person and wouldn't lie, but I still feel suspicious about everything. Syao's a really nice person too, but.doesn't anyone else see that they're together all the time? She thought and looked up at Syaoran. He was looking straight ahead. No, I can't just jump to conclusions, she sighed and leaned on his shoulder again.  
  
"What's wrong?" Syaoran asked.  
  
"Huh? Nothing. Just tired from getting ready," Jenny covered up.  
  
Syaoran laughed, "Hah, I'm lucky. Guys don't need all that preparation,"  
  
Jenny also laughed at that and took her mind away from the bad thoughts that were starting to pour into her head.  
  
"Oh, we're here!" Sakura suddenly squealed and skipped inside the giant hotel.  
  
Author's note: Cliffhanger! Well, kinda. So anyway.Review! Oh, and I'm going to Florida for two weeks in the end of August. One week is in Disney World! Wahoo! Well, getting to the point, that means I won't be writing when I'm there. I'll probably have time to write one more chapter before I leave, and then it's back to school, so I dunno if I'll have lots of time. So.hopefully I'll put the next chapter up before I leave. Byebyes! 


	5. The Prom

Transformations

Chapter 5: The Prom

Author's Note: I HATE MY SISTER!  Okay, sorry for taking so long for this chapter, and when I finally have it out it's only 5 pages, but I had more, but…well, I'll tell you the full thing after the chapter.  Ugh…I had writer's block.  I wrote a few pages, deleted it, wrote a few words, deleted it…so on.  But here it is!  Any this chapter important, but still a lot more after it.  This is not gonna end all simple!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CCS or the characters, you know the routine.  I only own my imaginary characters, Brendan, Jenny, and Fred.  During this chapter I included little parts of a song by Michelle Branch called 'Something to sleep to', and I DON'T own it!  It is not mine!

Sakura ran back to the group and hooked arms with Brendan again.  He grinned, amused at her excitement.  Then they all went inside.  The whole place had a kind of silver, white, purple, and blue look.  The walls seemed to sparkle, and the floors were shiny and...In particular, the dance floor was crowded.  Now the soft voices that they could hear from the way there were louder, filled with laughter and talk.  Sakura gaped at how beautiful it looked, but was brought out of her trance by Brendan tugging at her arm lightly.  He was gesturing towards the white stairs entering the main floor (the dance floor) Sakura nodded and walked down the stairs slowly.  They reached the bottom, and were greeted by classmates, all seemed to be having a great time.  Sakura grinned and waved at them.  Then Brendan and Sakura started to dance to the fast song that was playing from somewhere above.  

Syaoran and the others had reached the dance floor as well, and Syaoran was dancing with Jenny nearby.  When he got the chance Syaoran whispered, "Thanks Sakura," as he passed her.

Sakura nodded and turned her attention back to Brendan.  

After the song was over they decided to get some food, and went to a different section where there was a buffet style tables.  Sakura eagerly took a plate, and winded up to Syaoran while selecting food.  "How's it going?" she asked and dropped some noodles onto her plate.

Syaoran poured a little dressing on his salad, "Good, you?" 

Sakura nodded and reached the end of the table.  "Let's sit here," she suggested and sat down at a large empty table. 

The others followed her, and they had a nice short dinner.  Tomoyo watched suspiciously as Sakura and Syaoran chatted happily once they had finished their meal.  _They look like a couple almost…_ she thought, but shook it off.  She always wanted to play matchmaker for her best friend, but why should she?  Sakura already had a boyfriend now.  

After dinner most of the group split up to dance, talk, or something else.  Sakura, Brendan, and Syaoran and Jenny went back to dancing.  After they had danced for a few songs, Syaoran decided to ask Sakura for a dace, in a friendly manner.  "Uh, Sakura, do you wanna dance?" asked.

Sakura flattened out a wrinkle in her dress and grinned, "Sure," she agreed and followed him to the dance floor to a fast song.

Sakura's dancing was great.  Maybe it had something to do with her cheerleading hobby, but either way, she always had the right beat.  Syaoran was also getting the hang of the fast beat song.

Jenny was standing near the punch table, listening to the music.  After about a minute, Tomoyo joined her.

"Hey Jenny, what's up?" Tomoyo greeted her and filled her cup with punch.

"Oh, just taking a break, you?" jenny responded.

"Same here,"

After that they all split up again, and Jenny went to get a snack with Syaoran.  They grabbed a handful of m&m's and headed back.  

"Hey, Syaoran," Jenny started.

Syaoran gulped down a few m&m's, "Yeah Jenny?"

"Is Sakura you're friend?" 

Syaoran nodded, a little confused at what she was gonna say, "Yeah, we're pretty good friends.  Why?"

Jenny shook her head, "Nothing, it just seems like she knows you very well," he said and patted him on the back, "she's a nice person," 

Syaoran, confused in the inside nodded, "Yeah…hey, you wanna dance?" he added when he heard a slow song turn on.

Jenny grinned, "Of course!"

They stepped onto the floor, and Jenny leaned closer to Syaoran.

_She's his yellow brick road_

_Leading him on_

_And letting him go as far_

_As she lets him go_

_Going down to nowhere_

_She puts on her makeup_

_The same way she did yesterday_

_Hoping everything's the same_

_But everything has changed_

The soft beat sang.  Jenny smiled faintly, _I was wrong.  Syaoran's just friends with Sakura.  I should feel selfish for getting suspicious just because he has a friend.  And I know Sakura's not that type.  She seems to like Brendan a lot, Jenny thought happily and looked up at Syaoran._

Sakura was also dancing with Brendan.  Right now they were silent, but every now and then they would utter a few words.  Sakura noticed Syaoran dancing with Jenny.  She was leaning against him.  She linked glanced with Syaoran and winked at him.  He grinned back at her.  She smiled in silent response, but for on instant she felt a sharp pang of pain stab at her heart.  She winced for a second, but figured it was just the dress getting uncomfortable.  _I'm so happy that this worked out for Syaoran.  Jenny seems to like him a lot, she thought.  _

Now the song had changed, and some couples had stepped away now, to take a break.  Sakura and Brendan decided to watch, and took seats by a wall.  

Syaoran was still dancing, and every once in a while they would talk about simple things.  Jenny felt a lot better now.

After the song faded away, the D jay talked again.  "Okay, time to start the good stuff!  We're gonna announce the awards for Prom Kind and Queen, so gather 'round the dance floor,"

In a few minutes the whole grade was scrunched up as close as they could get to the stage where the crowns sat.  "Okay, for the 2003 graduates, their prom king is…Li Syaoran," the announcer said.  

Syaoran who was in between Sakura and Jenny dropped his jaw in surprise.  He really must have made a big impression in the last month and a half.  He stood rock solid, but Sakura and Jenny gave him a friendly boost and pushed him towards the stage.

Syaoran got up onto the stage and the crown was placed on his head.

"Now, going to the queen, your 2003 prom queen is…Kinomoto Sakura," 

Sakura's jaw also dropped, surprised.  She was sure that Jenny should be prom queen.  But she felt people behind her also giving her a slight push and stepped up beside Syaoran.  The man holding the crowns placed another on Sakura's head.

"Wanna give her a kiss, King?" a voice called out from the crowd.

Syaoran raised his eyebrow, _No way, Jenny's my girlfriend, besides, I'm not doing some publicity stunt,_ Syaoran thought.  He glanced at Sakura who also had a strange look on her face, obviously thinking the same thing.  The audience was waiting for a response and tension was growing.

Syaoran was now blushing, in anger, and in embarrassment.  

Sakura was doing the same.  Luckily they were interrupted by the announcer.

"Uh, well…there you have it, prom king and queen," he said and passed the microphone to Syaoran, who was closer.

Syaoran accepted it and cleared his throat, "Uh, first of all, I have to thank everyone who voted for me…I was very surprised," he started, even though he felt like saying, 'who the hell voted for me? I was an insider for half the year,', "And…Sakura is a friend of mine, and she helped me in different ways during the year, and I think that had something to do with why I'm here tonight, so I have to thank her too," he ended, nervously.  He passed the microphone to Sakura.

Sakura took it and cleared her throat also, "Ahem, well, I was also surprised that I'm up here, but…well, I am!  So, thank you to everyone, and especially to some friends who have helped me in different ways during this year.  I'm glad that I've met new people and grown very close to others, so thank you everyone," she said, in a slightly shaky voice.  She passed the microphone back to the announcer.  

"Thank you, Sakura and Syaoran.  Now we'll have you do the traditional king and queen dance, please make room for them," the announcer said and told Sakura and Syaoran to go to the dance floor.  They nodded and as they stepped down, people spread apart for them.  The glided slowly out to the center of the floor, where a song was already playing.  Syaoran and Sakura drew closer and started to dance slowly.  

Sakura giggled quietly, a little amused with the whole thing.  Syaoran also grinned in agreement.  After a while Sakura leaned against him, and a tingly feeling swept over him.  The same thing had happened when Jenny had danced with him, but this time he could have sworn it was stronger.  _Sakura's a good friend.  I bet she's most of the reason why I won this.  She made me stand out, taking soccer, and being more confident.   I really have to thank her.  When I made the deal with her, I didn't intend to become prom king, he thought._

Sakura was letting Syaoran lead, and looked to her side, seeing the many faces of the students, _Oh man, Tomoyo's probably taping the whole thing,_ she thought innocently.  She looked up at Syaoran, "Ya know what?" she said quiet enough so only Syaoran could hear.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Tomoyo's got this on tape for sure," she told him making him break out in a small laugh.  She grinned, ageing at what he thought about it.

After a while other couples joined in, and they weren't alone, and they felt more comfortable.  When the song changed, Sakura and Syaoran drifted their different ways.

Jenny had decided to freshen up in the bathroom while they were dancing.  She had seen them when they began to dance, but had slipped away.  The bathroom was empty, since everyone was watching the dancing, so Jenny leaned against the fancy counter where the sinks were.  

The music faintly sang through the closed door.

She stared hard at her reflection in the mirror and closed her eyes.  Her mind seemed to be undecided, questioning everything she thought.

_They seemed so happy when they danced_

_But of course they should be happy; they just got crowned king and queen_

_Yeah, you're right_

_Am I?_

_I don't know_

_Do you think they seem like good friends?_

_I don't know!_

_Well, you seemed to before_

_But...things change_

_What things?_

_My thoughts apparently_

_Anything else?___

_…yeah_

_What?_

_Syaoran_

_How?_

_He…his…his thoughts change_

_Thoughts about what?___

_You know it already.  I mean, I know it.  Why do I have to say it when I know it_

_Say it._

_Fine, thoughts about me.  And Sakura_

_Are you sure?_

Jenny snapped away from her thoughts when a few girls entered the bathroom.  She went into the bathroom stall, and leaned against the wall, letting her thoughts sink in.  She was thankful that she had been brought out of her thoughts, but couldn't help go back to them.  "Are you sure?" another voice in her head had asked.  She couldn't respond.  She wasn't sure. 

Author's note: Okay, so here's what happened.  I wrote the whole chapter and usually I save all my fanfiction stuff on a floppy disc, which I did for this chap.  Then, I revised it a little and split it in half, the first half on the computer instead.  But I had my disc in my pocket one night and me and my older sis were fighting for this thing and while we were fighting my disc must have fallen out somewhere and now I can't find it!  Wah!  So I lost all of the fanfics and ideas I had written down!  And I had some that I didn't even get to put up yet!  I'm DOOMED!  Well anyways, I'm not even good at looking for stuff.  *sigh* but I'll keep looking for it.  So…here's the first part of the chap, the only thing that I saved on the computer.  So, here's the two lessons I learned: NEVER put anything in your pocket cause it always falls out!  And, always have some kind of backup!  Well…on the bright side, I figured out how to use _italics_ and **bold!  And Anyways, hope you liked it, review!**


	6. The Prom: How to end the night

Transformations

Chapter 6: The Prom: how to end the night

Authoresses note:  Yippiieee!!!!!  I got my disc back!  *does little happy dance* ^___^ But I still think my sis had something to do with its sudden reappearance…oh wells, anyway, here's the next chapter!!!  Also, I would have put this up right after I found it, but I kinda wanted to fix some stuff up, but couldn't concentrate cause of stinkin writer's block, but now everything's okay…well kinda… So anyway, sorry for making you wait!  Hope you like this chapter!!  Thank you for all the reviews!!! 

Disclaimer: I don't own CLAMP, CCS, or these songs in the chapter, blah blah blah, except for Jenny, Brendan, and…I think that's all.  But don't sue me.

The night continued, slowly changing to more of a slow tone.  A set of slow songs began playing.

_And I wanna believe you_

_When you tell me that it'll be okay,_

_Ya__ I try to believe you,_

_But I don't_

_When you say that it's gonna be_

_It always turns out to be a different way,_

_I try to believe you,_

_Not today, today, today, today, today…_

Jenny remained seated by the velvet chairs that lined up against the wall, in clear view of the dance floor where she stared out.  There were still a lot of people dancing, but more people had retired to the chairs next to her.  Suddenly Syaoran stepped out in front of her and held his hand out to her and smiled, "May I have this dance?"

Jenny blushed at his gesture and grinned.  _Everything's okay.  Syaoran's a great person and I can trust him… she thought and followed him to the dance floor._
    
    _I don't know how I feel,_
    
    _tomorrow__, tomorrow,_
    
    _I don't know what to say,_
    
    _tomorrow__, tomorrow_
    
    _Is a different day_
    
    _It's always been up to you,_
    
    _It's turning around,_
    
    _It's up to me,_
    
    _I'm gonna do what I have to do,_
    
    _just__ don't_
    
    _Gimme__ a lil time,_
    
    _Leave me alone a little while,_
    
    _Maybe it's not too late,_
    
    _not__ today, today, today, today, today..._
    
    "Syaoran," Jenny whispered into his shoulder.
    
    "Yeah Jenny?" 
    
    "What does Sakura mean to you?" 
    
    "Hmm?  You mean Sakura as in Cherry blossom?"
    
    Jenny's face grew angry; annoyed that he didn't know she was thinking of the person Sakura.  "No, Sakura Kinomoto,"
    
    Syaoran nodded, "Oh, that Sakura.  She's a great friend,"
    
    Jenny nodded, but was burning with anger.  It had gone too far.  "Really?" she asked harshly.
    
    "Uh, yeah, she's a great person,"

"Yeah, she sure is.  I bet she's sooo great that you like her, don't you?" Jenny stated coldly.  She looked up at him finally.

Syaoran stared at her in shock.  _Why does she think this?  We're just friends…I know it, he thought, using 99% of his thoughts to support it._

"Huh?  I thought you loved me?  But things change don't they?" Jenny said.

Syaoran shook his head, "No, they don't.  They never will," he stammered.  He was keeping his voice low, so that people wouldn't notice, and so was Jenny.  But that was even harder to do.

"Really?" Jenny asked sarcastically.  "Listen.  Do you hear this song?  This is true.  I can't believe you anymore.  You can try to tell me things are okay.  You can.  There's nothing stopping you.  But I can't believe you anymore.  Really, I try to believe you.  But only fools believe that nothing changes.  Especially when it comes to love," she murmured.

Syaoran sighed and looked her in the eye.  "Things do change.  I admit it.  My thoughts of Sakura have changed, but only so that our friendship is stronger.  Nothing more," he said.

It must have been the wrong thing to say because Jenny went against it, "I really was a fool.  I really wish things didn't have to change.  But I actually believed that things wouldn't.  But I'm done with that and I'm done with you," she sternly said and pushed Syaoran away.  

Syaoran caught his balance and tried to approach her again, "No, think this through Jenny.  I still like you," he said.

Jenny backed away from him, "No.  I already thought it through.  While you were disappearing all the time after school.  I wanted to see you more.  But you always seemed to be busy, or not there for me to even ask.  I should have stopped everything then.  Before it even got too far.  Before this.  I could have found someone else.  I shouldn't have been so blind thinking it was all my imagination," she snapped and rushed off the dance floor.  As she pushed past everyone she passed Sakura.  "I'm sorry," she muttered and ran up the stairs and out of the building, away from the laughing and chattering.  Away from everything.    

Syaoran stood, stone cold, right where Jenny had left him.  Everything that Sakura had worked so hard for.  Everything he had wanted.  Had just fallen apart.  Now the music had changed to a fast paced song and people were dancing energetically.  
    
    _Is it love or just curse?_
    
    _Do you feel good when I hurt?_
    
    _I need your heart to open up_
    
    _If this love's not real then it's just my lucky_
    
    _You never told me bout the birds and the bees_
    
    _Or about hide and go seek_
    
    _Or what he gets when he finds me_
    
    _The biggest mistakes are the choices I make_
    
    _Won't you help me decide?_
    
    _What's going on in my mind?_
    
    The music played.  
    
    Syaoran stood and looked down at his hands.  _Should I have run after her?  Why didn't I? He asked stupidly._
    
    Sakura noticed Syaoran and rushed over to him, "Syaoran, what happened?  What's wrong?  Where did Jenny run off to?  She just passed me and said "I'm sorry,'"
    
    Syaoran shook his head, "She's gone.  I'm sorry too Sakura," he whispered and disappeared into the crowd.  

Authoresses Note: I'm sooooo sorry for making you wait this long, and now I give you…**a 3 page long chapter!!!  And like half of it is the songs!!!  **I just had a really bad case of writer's block and I wanted to get this out.  Next chapter will be longer, I promise!!  


	7. The Last Days

Transformations

Chapter 7: The last days

Authoresses note:  Weee!!!  My birthday's November 10!  And I beat the deadline!  I planned to have this chapter up by my birthday, and I do!  Woooo!  It's been hard to find time when I'm inspired to write, but its here!  Not my longest chapter, but I think it's a decent chapter.  I put lotsa thought into it, and this is actually the second version of it…and I like this one better.  Well, things have been reeeaally weird for me lately, but I hope this chapter isn't weird too!  ^___^;;; Hope you like it!  Everyone say happy birthday to ME!  

DISCLAIMER: for my birthday I wish I was in CLAMP, and owned all the CCS characters!  ::blows out b-day candles on the pretty cake:: Wah, but I don't!  …it this comes true though, I will soon enough though!  ^o^ But it won't…not this anyway…well I can dream.  For now, all I own is the plot, and Jenny and Brendan.  Now on with the chapter….

The next few days followed uneventfully.  The students continued to grow excited as the days until summer vacation were counted down.

5

4

3

2

…but Syaoran really didn't care that much.  While the others were out enjoying their last high-school days with parties and get togethers at the pizza place, he chose to stay in his apartment, staring out the window thinking.  On this particular day, with only 2 days left before graduation, Syaoran was at Sakura's house, staring out the window of _her_ living room window.

"Uh…you okay Syaoran?" a voice asked from above him.  Sakura looked down at where he sat, and passed him one of the two cans of soda she held in her hand.  The other hand carried a bowl of chips, which she lowered onto the coffee table in front of them.  Sakura plopped down next to Syaoran, sitting pretzel-like.  

Syaoran tore his attention from his thoughts, and turned back to Sakura, "Yeah, I'm just a little tired.  I stayed up late yesterday," he explained, but only telling half of the reasons why he had seemed more distant during the last few days since prom.  Sure, he was tired, and he did stay up late, but she didn't know why.  It was because he couldn't tell anyone.  At least not yet.  How could he tell Sakura that Jenny broke up with him, because of…her?  Because she thought he liked her?  But then again, what if he did?  That was harder to come upon the answer.  He knew it wasn't wise to tell Sakura that Jenny was mad, partly because of her.  Knowing her, she would try to sort things out but telling Jenny it wasn't true.  That wouldn't help.  But did he?  Maybe, just maybe he really did like Sakura.  Maybe…

"That's good," Sakura grinned, "it's just…you seem a little different since prom and um…well yeah," she stumbled across her words, trying not to talk directly about the breakup.  She really wanted to help him, but she didn't even know what happened.  

"Thanks Sakura.  You're a good friend.  But really, I'm okay.  I'm just thinking about…college," he lied again.  At this point, college was the last thing on his mind.

"Okay, but if you need someone to talk to or anything, I'm always here and- oh gee, I guess that's what Eriol and Yamazaki are there for, eh?  I not sure you'd wanna talk and I don't think that's my job…" she ranted on, laughing slightly.

Syaoran grinned, "Yeah, we only made a deal that said you were going to help me with standing out, not for a counselor," he joked, starting to feel better.  Then another stray thought ran through his mind, _what are we going to do about our deal?  She already spent enough time on me, and I have to make sure I can do the same fore her…but we probably won't have more lessons for me, right?  Nothing left now that Jenny's gone…_

"Oh, look at the time, it's already 5:00!  I'm supposed to meet Brendan in the park in about…10 minutes!" she glanced at her watch and jumped up, darting up the stairs.  Halfway up though, she stopped and grinned, "Hehehe, well I guess we'll finish this another day then.  You can go ahead and leave now if you want," she told him and retreated to her room.  

Syaoran nodded slowly, starting to pack up his books.  Five minutes later, when Sakura had finished changing, Syaoran stood waiting by the doorway, his backpack slung over one shoulder.

Sakura, no longer in her school uniform, but into a pair of overalls, skipped over to him, and opened the door.  The two short pigtails tied loosely in her hair swayed as she held it open for Syaoran.  "You didn't have to wait for me," she said, but a grin showed she liked his company.  

"That's okay.  I didn't really feel like walking back alone anyway.  And I wanna ask you a question…uh," Syaoran started.

"Oh yeah, are our lessons done?" Sakura innocently brought up, before Syaoran could ask the same.

Syaoran scratched his head, confused for a moment that she had just took his words, but shrugged, "Uh, It doesn't really matter anyway.  There's not much time left in school, and you already did a lot for me.  It's my turn to help you,"

Sakura nodded.  If someone looked hard enough, they might have seen a flash of disappointment.  "Okay then.  But wouldn't that be cheating or something?  Can't I do _something to help you?  We can just hang out if you want.  Even if it's only for a few days.  I just wanna make sure you don't get the short end of the deal,"_

Syaoran laughed softly, "Heh okay then.  I guess so,"

"But also, I don't think I helped you _that_ much…but then again, I helped you find your first love!" she cheerfully said, skipping ahead of him a few steps.  "Err…if it was love,"

Syaoran smiled and stood by the corner of the sidewalk, as they waited for the cars to pass.  After a minute, he smiled, "Well no, you're right.  I guess I did find love," he muttered half to himself.  _Just it wasn't planned this way.  The thing is, feelings won't be returned in this case.  Sakura already had the perfect relationship.  I can't be selfish and ruin hers just because of what I want.  But still, I know I didn't get the short end of the deal.  No matter what happens, I'm glad to know Sakura._

"Well, I'm going this way," Syaoran gestured to his right, stopping.  "I'll see you tomorrow," 

Sakura nodded and waved goodbye, starting in the opposite direction.  "Bye,"  in only a few minutes, she had reached the penguin park, where little kids surrounded the small sprinkler set, running around.  Sakura, like them wished to keep cool from the sticky, thick heat that lingered in late afternoon.  Taking a small detour, she passed the sprinklers.  The small drops of water that sprinkled gently against her face as she passed slowly.  This had been a great year.  And she had made two new friends recently, too.  If only she could make them as happy as she was…but how?  

"Hey Sakura," a voice called to her.

Sakura ran a finger along her now damp hair, and smiled at Brendan.  He was dry, and showed no traces of tiredness from the warm weather as he stood in front of her.  "Oh, hi Brendan.  Hehe, I'm just cooling myself off," 

Brendan grinned, "Yeah, it's getting pretty hot now.  You looked like you had something on your mind just now,"

They slowly pulled away from the small crowd of 5 year olds, leaving the park.  "Oh, just thinking about some stuff.  This year has been really fun, right?  It seems to have gone by so fast," she trailed off, and skipped ahead a few steps, giving her a head start, compared to Brendan's long legs.

"Yeah, it has," Brendan agreed.

"But I just hope everyone had as good a year as I did," Sakura added, and suddenly she knew what to do.  _I'll get Syaoran and Jenny back together.  I don't know why they broke up to begin with, but I'll help them out._

~~~~~ Jenny ~~~~~

"So sad about us," she mumbled, softly singing along with the music she was listening to, through her headphones.  The thick heat wavered around her, and where she sat on the front steps of her house.  She could have just stayed cool in the air conditioning like her sister, but she didn't want to.  That was what she had done the past few days, and she was starting to think she would become one of those moping people who stayed in the dark, dwelling on their past.  _Gee, but I'm still listening to the same song on repeat.  And it's a sad song…well too bad, I just feel like it._ She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead, and fidgeted with the rubix cube she held in her hands, trying to match another two of the red sticker blocks together.  _Was I wrong to dump Syaoran?  What if i was wrong?  Was it just me?  But it's too late…isn't it?_

"I'm such a jerk.  I let my superstitions get the better of me," Jenny muttered to herself, and hit her forehead with the cube, half annoyed that she had been so foolish, and half that she couldn't finish the cube.

"Jenny, your cell phones ringing," a voice called from inside the house.  Her sister stuck her head out the window, handing her a phone.

Jenny slowly reached for it, and without a word of thanks waved her away.  "Hello?" she muttered dully into the small silvery flip phone.

"Hi Jenny!  This is Sakura," the voice explained, cheerfully, unlike Jenny.

Jenny bit her lip, and sat up from the slouched position she had been in.  "Oh, hey Sakura…what's up?" she asked, not really sure what to say.  Since the prom, it felt a little weird talking to Sakura…since she was pretty much the reason why she had broken up with Syaoran.  Did she even know why they had broken up?  Had Syaoran told her?  

"Nothin' much," Sakura lied, but Jenny didn't notice.  To her, making her friends happy was the top goal before graduation.  "I was just thinking; wanna go get some ice cream tomorrow?  Everyone else's coming too.  It'll be fun," she added.

Jenny bit her lip harder.  _Everyone?  Would Syaoran be there too?  Finally she gulped and nodded, "Sure, why not?"_

"Yay!  Okay, we're just gonna go right after school tomorrow.  Oh, but I was planning to get the presents I got for all of you after…can you come with me to get them at my house?  Before we meet up with them for ice cream?" Sakura asked, laying out her plan.

"Sure," Jenny agreed.  Then both said their goodbyes before hanging up.  Jenny closed her eyes and leaned back against the door, sighing.  What did tomorrow await?  If she saw Syaoran what would happen?  They could avoid talking to each other in school, but with less people…they would have to talk.

Authoresses note:  I've changed my b-day wish!  Now I wish for lotsa lotsa reviews!  Now that one _might_ happen!  It's all up to you!!!  So review!!!  (hey, that rhymes…)  __


	8. The Turning Tables

**Transformations**

**Chapter 8: The Turning tables**

Authoresses Note: Whew…finally got a motive to write…was stuck on this for a while and didn't know what to write…but it didn't help that my Mom limited the time I have on the computer…now I really only have weekends to write a lot.  So don't be surprised if it takes a while for the next chapter to come out.  And I'm going on vacation for winter break, so the next time I write won't be for a few weeks…anyways, here's chapter 8!

DISCLAIMER: Heh, just one more interruption.  I do NOT own CCS or any of the characters from it, 'cause I'm NOT part of CLAMP.  See, dreams are different than reality.  In reality I only own the characters I made up in my head, which are Jenny and Brendan…that's all.

"Okies, so we'll join up with you guys later," Sakura explained to her friends as their group left the school building.  They nodded in agreement before watching Sakura and Jenny disappear into the waves of students flowing out of the building, and started towards the local ice cream place, before it got too crowded with other students cooling themselves off from the summer heat.  

Sakura weaved quickly past her classmates, Jenny right behind her, until they were pretty much away from the crowd.  "Thanks for coming with me to get the presents," Sakura said.

Jenny nodded, and made a small smile, "That's okay.  It's nice of you to get things for everyone."

"Yup," Sakura chirped happily.  She grinned, but after that remained silent, like Jenny.  Luckily it was only a short walk to Sakura's house, so the quiet wasn't long.  Sakura opened the door inside, and quickly retrieved a few small bags tied in ribbons.  She put them in a plastic bag before leaving again; counting to make sure they were all there.  "This one's yours," she told Jenny, offering a light orange bag.

Jenny nodded and accepted it, "Thanks Sakura.  Hehe, can I open it?" she asked, feeling a little better.

"Yup, sure," Sakura answered and waited for Jenny to unwrap the gift.  After that she would try to talk to Jenny about Syaoran.

Jenny carefully slipped the ribbon off the bag, unfolding the wrapping tissue in the bag.  It revealed a two shiny hairclips in the shape of leaves, reflecting light shades of orange.  "Oh, thanks Sakura!  These are so cute!" 

Sakura grinned, happy that she liked them.  Watching as Jenny placed them in her long dark hair to keep strands of hair out of her face, she finally spoke.  "So…why did you and Syaoran break up anyways?  I mean, you don't have to tell me, but I was just kind of…"

"I know.  It's okay that you're wondering.  None of us really told anyone.  But I guess you should know.  I mean, you're friends with both Syaoran and me, so it's hard." Jenny said, almost in a whisper.

Sakura looked ahead at the sidewalk ahead of them, waiting for what Jenny might say.

Jenny cleared her throat and continued, but now her voice was a little louder, and she didn't seem as afraid to bring up the subject.  "I kind of got mad at him…my head got the better of me.  And I blamed him for something I wasn't even sure about.  And now…I kind of regret it."

Sakura waited for a moment to see if Jenny would say more, but silence just filled in again.  "Really?  But does that mean you still like him?"

"I guess so."

"But I'm sure he still likes you too!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to convince Jenny.  "I just do.  You need to tell him!"

_No, nothings for sure.  How can you be so sure that Syaoran likes me?_ Jenny questioned, but only in her mind.  "But I really hurt him…I didn't trust him, believe him.

"But—"Sakura tried to add, but was interrupted.

"Hey you guys!  We're over here!" Tomoyo's light voice called from where she stood outside the ice cream shop.  In one hand she held a vanilla waffle cone for herself, and in the other she held out a strawberry ice cream cone decorated with a few rainbow sprinkles for Sakura.  "This one's yours,"

Sakura closed her mouth again and took the ice cream, dropping the subject for a while.  "Thanks.  What happened, already full?" she guessed, nodding towards the ice cream shop.

The door opened, spreading the noise from inside out onto the sidewalk too, giving Sakura her answer.  "Yup we can just go to the park instead.  And Jenny, Meilin has your ice cream," 

~~~~~ The park ~~~~~

Settling by a small water fountain nearby the penguin playground, the group of friends chatted happily.  "So what're you guys gonna do for graduation? It's after tomorrow," Tomoyo asked, dabbing napkin over her mouth after taking a lick off her cone.

For a second, things were quiet as everyone remembered that in two days their high school career would be gone.  But it was shaken off, and conversation broke out once again.

"I wanna pull a stunt off…maybe get some water balloons…"

"Yamazaki!  Don't you dare!  This is _our_ graduation, and you _can't_ do that,"

"Hehe, yes I can!"

"No."

"Yes, and there's a story I've heard that water balloons…"

Syaoran grinned, amused at the couple's joke.  Chiharu and Yamazaki, they could trust eachother, unlike what happened with Jenny.  _I wasn't worthy of her trust, he thought sadly, but forgot once again, hearing laughing coming from his left._

"You're sooo funny Brendan!" a pretty girl giggled, rocking back and forth, hands resting on her heart as if it was about to leap out from her _uncontrolled laughter.  As she swayed, her wavy brown hair swung around her, carefully resting back just above her elbow when her laughing finally subsided.  Taking a seat next to Brendan, she smiled sweetly at him.  "So what happened then?"_

Brendan shifted away for a moment when the girl first leaned toward him.  Running his hand through his messy brown bangs, he continued, "Well Ruri, if I remember right, after that…"

Syaoran turned his attention away from the two and joined his friends, Eriol, Yamazaki, and Fred.  "Hey, what's up?"

Eriol nodded towards Yamazaki, who was inching close to the bags Sakura had brought.  "He can't wait to see what's there," 

Yamazaki stepped closer to where Sakura, Tomoyo, and Jenny were, trying to sneak a glimpse at the gifts.

"Hey, Yamazaki!"

Chiharu placed her hand on her waist in a demanding manner, pointing a finger towards the bag Yamazaki held.  "Give it here."

Yamazaki handed it over in failure to avoid boredom.

"Sakura, is this breakable?" Chiharu simply asked, waving the bag.

Sakura shook her head, watching what Chiharu wanted.

"Bad, bad, bad!" Chiharu scolded, whacking Yamazaki on the head with the bag.  She seemed like a mother disciplining their child.

"Err…lucky thing that was only a stuffed animal," Sakura sweatdropped as she was handed the bag back from her friend once she was finished.  "Oh yeah, but I should give these out now," Sakura reminded herself and passed the gifts out to their assorted owners.  With only two left, Sakura approached Brendan.  "Here you go Bren!"

Brendan jerked his attention away from the girl he had been talking to, Ruri, and smiled.  "Huh?  Oh thanks Kura," he added quickly.  "You know Ruri, right?" he asked Sakura.  

"Yeah, I've seen you around school sometimes.  And you work at the Chinese food place, right?" Sakura recalled the time she had first been introduced to her.

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~

"I'd like the sesame chicken," Sakura finished telling the girl behind the counter who was taking her order.  The girl looked no older that her, and she wouldn't be surprised if she went to the same school as them.  

"Uh-hmm, and in total, that will be…$12.50," the girl mumbled, calculating the prices in her head.  She brushed her long brown hair out of her eyes, giving the two a pearly white smile before disappearing to the kitchen for a moment.  

"Uh, Sakura, you go get a table, and I'll pay," Brendan told Sakura, ushering her away.  "My treat," he explained, winking at her.  

Sakura nodded and obediently sat down by the window, playing with the crumply white napkins from the dispenser.  Behind her at the counter, Brendan had started to talk with the girl as he waited for the food.

"Hey, have I seen you around school before?  What's your name?" 

The girl, brushing away her hair again, looked up at him, "Hmm?  Ruri.  What's yours?"

So Brendan and Ruri had a nice short conversation, while waiting for the food.  Interrupting them though, was a call from the kitchen.

"Hey, the foods ready," 

Britney narrowed her eyes in disappointment, but walked back to the kitchen and returned with the food.

"Oh, the food ready?" Sakura asked, joining the two, offering to take the bag.  

"Yeah, and Kura, doesn't she look familiar?  She goes to school with us, just in a different class," Brendan explained while they got ready to leave.

"Really?  Nice to meet you…"

"Ruri," the girl added, introducing herself.  She smiled again.

"Oh, nice to meet you Ruri.  Well I guess I'll see you in school or something," Sakura said and waved goodbye as they left.    

~~~~~End~~~~~

"Yeah, that's Ruri," he said, bringing his attention back to his and Ruri's conversation.

Sakura nodded and skipped over to Syaoran.  She grinned simply and held out the last one for Syaoran.  "Here ya go,"

Syaoran was already watching her and nodded with acceptance, "Thanks Sakura.  Err…can I call you Kura?"

Sakura turned on the heel of her shoe, but looked back quickly, "Oh sure _Syao," she added, using his nickname.  She had heard Jenny say it one time, and it seemed to have a nice ring to it.  Smiling, she decided to sit with him, waiting for him to open his bag._

Syaoran flushed a tint of scarlet for a pure second, but slowly untied the green ribbon tying the bag, and took out a small pocket watch.  The cover was made of a deep brown wood, and engraved on it was a design or a wolf.  Bordering around the wolf, close to the outside of the watch cover were little carved leaves and vines.

Sakura grinned, watching Syaoran trace his fingers over the vines.  "Yup, and it can tell time too," she joked, amused at how much he liked the gift.  "And seeing that smile just now will be enough payback for all my help," she decided, a small smirk spreading.  She patted him on the head before standing up again and skipped back to Jenny, leaving Syaoran with a smile just as well.  He looked back down at the beautiful watch, fingering the designs.

"Sakura, what'd you think I should I should about graduation?  My speech still sounds kinda formal, doesn't it?" Jenny brought up when Sakura joined her again.  She twirled a pen in between her index fingers, creating the affect of an orange swirl in her hand.  Her eyes flashed back and forth across the paper in her lap, scanning it for errors.  She was voted as class representative to speak at the graduation, and had focused intently on it the last few days.

Sakura pursed her lips, sitting down.  "Jenny its fine.  And besides, I've must have seen you rewriting drafts a dozen times!"  Seeing Jenny's look of persistence, Sakura finally nodded and took the wrinkled looseleaf from her friend's extended hand.  Tucking some of her short auburn hair behind her ear to see better, Sakura started reading.

Jenny watched patiently, seeing what Sakura's reaction would be.  It only took a moment before Sakura lifted her head and handed the papers back.  "You finished it already?  That means it shouldn't even be that short!" Jenny muttered, jumping to more things for fixing.

"You read it," Sakura replied simply.  "Your handwriting is completely illegible."

Jenny raised her eyebrow slightly, knowing her handwriting was fine.  Without putting up an argument she brought the speech closer, getting ready to read.  She glanced over the paper at Sakura for a second, getting ready to start.

"Yes, your handwriting is a type of crossbreed between chicken scratch and kindergarten," she stated in a serious voice, but detecting humor.

"Good afternoon fellow classmates, parents, and staff.  Today marks the end of our high school career, but only in writing……" Jenny began to read, carefully letting the words flow at a steady pace.

Sakura listened to the words carefully, letting her mind take it in.  Finally, Jenny slowed down, coming towards the end of her speech.

"So today, I wish all the best for all of us, and cheers to us."

Sakura stretched her arms, and then cracked her fingers.  "Sounds great Jenny!  But to be honest, it doesn't sound like you put your heart into it.  I mean, it doesn't have your voice,"

Jenny sighed, but looking up from her paper, she nodded, "Yeah, I guess.  I'm just not feeling too excited about the speech anymore," she trailed off.  Hugging her knees to her chest as if it was cold out, she stared at the dirt ground as if in deep interest.

"Jenny, are you okay?  Are you…thinking of Syaoran?" Sakura whispered.

"Nah, why would I?" Jenny attempted to lie, but with great failure.  "I guess."

"Listen, if you still like him, go tell him you're sorry for whatever you did.  It must have been really stupid, but if I was him, I'd forgive you," Sakura laughed lightly.  She grinned at Jenny, watching her friend pout.

"Wah, no fair.  Well I guess…it couldn't hurt, right?  I mean, I really am sorry." Jenny agreed and suddenly a new energy surged through.  "Okies, I will Sakura!  And I've got the best new idea for this speech!" Jenny waved her papers, before tearing them slowly down the middle.  "I'm not gonna use this junky stuff,"

Sakura gaped at Jenny.  "Err….eheheh, I didn't mean that you should destroy it so viciously…" she sweatdropped as she watched another rip in the paper appear.  "But that's good…you seem better already,"

"Yup, I feel great.  Oh, and can I call you tonight?  Can you peer edit it for me, in a way?" Jenny asked eagerly, jumping up from her seat.  She zippered her backpack and threw it over her shoulder.  "Okay?"

"Sure, that's fine.  You're leaving already?" Sakura asked, surprised how Jenny was really getting to work.

"Yeah, I've got a lot to change before graduation practice again tomorrow, where I actually have to read my speech.  See ya," she waved goodbye to Sakura before leaving.  She grinned, knowing her plan was perfect.

~~~~~ Later, Jenny's house ~~~~~

Crossing a thick black pen line through a sentence, Jenny whisked her pen behind her ear and reexamined her new draft.  A moment later she scribbled another few sentences into the margin of the paper, which was already pretty full with revising.  "This makes more sense," she muttered in satisfaction.  She leaned forward, closer to her desk, and wrote a few more lines at the end of her papers.  Rocking back again, she stretched her arms behind her, and yawned.  The digital clock on the desk only read 7:00 pm. But still, she had worked on this draft for a few hours already.  Finally she was satisfied with it.  Much better.  Picking up her phone, she dialed Sakura's number.

*Ring*

*Ring Ring*

"Moshi, Moshi, Sakura here,"

"Hi Sakura, its Jenny,"

"Oh, hey Jenny.  You finish your draft?"

"Yup, is now a good time to read it to you?"

"Sure, the big tall monster who usually lurks around her left just a few minutes ago.  I think he's going to raid some food with his friends," Sakura joked.

"You mean Touya?"

"Yup, who else would it be?" Sakura agreed, a tint of laughter in her voice.  "Go ahead,"

"Okay, here goes…" Jenny trailed off, diving right into her speech.  This time, the words seemed to flow better, both in her mind, and vocally.  Like Sakura had explained earlier, her paper had lacked voice.  Truthfully, once she read it over, it was just pure fluff.  Now she knew it was great.

One Jenny said the last sentence, Sakura squealed, "That was great Jenny!  I can't say there's anything you should change.  Good job,"

"Hehe, thanks Sakura.  I had lotsa help from you."

"Nah, I didn't do anything.  Just got you a little more focused I guess,"

"Well anyways, thanks.  I've gotta go, dinner's ready…finally.  I'm getting soooo hungry from working!  Taro roots would taste _great_ right now," Jenny added a joke, knowing Sakura disliked those foods.

"Yuck…who wants _those_?" Sakura said, knowing Jenny didn't like them either.  "Well go ahead, eat soon.  We don't want you to starve,"

"Yeah, that shows how hungry I am!  I'll see you tomorrow," Jenny said before hanging up.  She smiled and looked over her draft proudly.  But once again, she added one last surprise that she would save especially for graduation day.  After that, she smiled again and left for dinner.  The new revision was only another two sentences at the very end of the speech.

**_And still, I want to say one more thing for new beginnings.  This is for a special someone: I'm so sorry for not trusting you; I made a bad decision.  Can you forgive me, Syaoran Li?_**

****

~~~~~ School the next day ~~~~~

"Class, there's only a few days left in this school year, but that does not, I repeat does not give you the right to misbehave!" the homeroom teacher tried to tell her class, but failed once again.  Deciding that this was the quietest they would be for a while, she pulled out a box from underneath her desk.  "Ahem, this is your yearbook.  I'll be passing them out now," she notified them dully before walking up and down each isle of the class, passing them out to the loud students.

Syaoran flipped through the pages, uninterested in the black and white photos.  He hadn't been very popular during most of high-school, so it wasn't likely that he'd be in a lot of the pictures.  But after a while, he started to notice something.  He was in some of them.  And almost all of them were with Sakura.  Had they really spent so much time together?  He didn't really blame Jenny for getting angry at him.  Still flipping through the pages, the bell finally rang, dismissing them for lunch.  Today he was eating with the guys.  His new friends Eriol, Yamazaki, and Fred were with him as they headed to the lawns to get a table.  

"Hey, look here's a picture of you with Sakura at prom," Eriol pointed out happily, and shoved the book into Syaoran's arms.  He was pointing to a picture that took up most of the space on that page, and in the picture, Syaoran and Sakura were dancing.  When he remembered her that night, she really was very pretty.  Caught up in his own thoughts, he barely saw as Sakura pushed past him, without a smile.  Instead she looked pretty sad.

"You okay Sakura?" he heard Tomoyo gently ask, patting Sakura's back as they passed.

Sakura sighed and managed to nod, although it didn't seem like she was telling the truth.  "Yeah…um let's go sit by that tree before someone takes our spot," she pointed ahead, and smiled weakly.  Pulling Tomoyo along with her, Sakura ran to the tree, where she dropped down against the tree trunk, before opening her lunch, looking fine again.

.

Syaoran watched her, completely puzzled.  "What was that about?" he asked no one in particular and turned back to his friends who didn't seem to have noticed.

"Hmm?" Yamazaki asked through his mouthful of rice.  "Wha  us wut?" 

"That," Syaoran gestured carefully toward the tree that Sakura and Tomoyo were eating at.  "Sakura looked pretty sad just now," 

Grinning, Yamazaki got up from the bench, stomped one foot back on it, and leaned on it.

"Well to your left, you can see some odd sort of Columbus wannabee" Fred joked in a tour guide voice.  The three friends turned to watch Yamazaki.

"So there's something you wanna know?  Okay, I'll be right back!" he told them, anxious to get any sort of gossip or listen in on anything.  Before Syaoran could protest, Yamazaki had left, who knows where.

A few minutes later, he was back again and simply stated, "Brendan dumped Sakura for some other girl named Ruri."

Authoresses Note: Wheewwww……that took a while.  Well yeah, I've been lazy lately.  And if anyone has any ideas for what might happen next, feel free to share.  If you've read any of my other stories, sorry for only updating this!  I started to write the next chapter to **_I'll Save Myself_**, but I didn't get to finish…I'll get there. -_-;;; It's coming…soon…I think.


	9. The Day Before

Transformations

Chapter 9: The Day before…

Authoresses Note: Sooooo sorry!  Yeah, I said I was gonna update soon, but I didn't…oops.  I've been sooo busy and tired lately.  But now we have mid-winter recess!  Finally, no school!  Now, getting to the story…

DISCLAIMER: yea, I don't own any of the characters, they're CLAMP's.  I only own the made up ones, Jenny, Brendan and…I think that's all.

"Sakura?" Syaoran's voice faintly asked, watching his friend as she swung back and forth on the swing set of the penguin park.  Her feet lazily dragged after her, leaving lines indented in the soil under her.  Her face tilted up slightly, she stared pointlessly past the sandbox, past the monkey-bars, past the trees to nowhere in particular.  Her eyes barely held themselves open, and her mouth hung open slightly.  After a moment she shook her head and sat up straight.  She brushed some of her auburn bangs out of her eyes and turned to Syaoran, sitting on the swing next to her.  "Huh?"

"You seem," Syaoran searched for the right words, "tired," 

Sakura laughed halfheartedly, "Ahahah, nah, not me.  I'm not…tired," she replied uselessly.  "I'm just thinking about…graduation," she added.  "It's getting close."

"Yeah, it is," Syaoran dully agreed.  The two sat side by side in silence, Syaoran looking down at the soil as if it would give him a script to say, and Sakura looking upward, at nothing.

"Sooo…" Syaoran started again.  "Jenny finish her speech?"

Sakura nodded and tried to look more awake, "Yeah, she finished it yesterday.  She told it to me.  It sounded really good," she truthfully answered.  

Syaoran smiled, "That's good." He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his pocket watch, his gift from Sakura.  "Oh, it's already 5," he said, trying to make it sound like time had gone by fast.

"Really?" Sakura added catching on, "Well that was quick.  I'm gonna go back home.  I'm cooking dinner tonight," she added, this time truthfully.  Sakura rose from the swing and shrugged her backpack on.

Syaoran nodded and also got up, "Mind if I come too?" he bravely asked.  He smiled at Sakura when she nodded.

"Okay," she agreed.  They two walked in silence on the way to her house, but at least it wasn't an awkward one.  Finally they stopped in front of the cozy yellow painted house, Sakura's.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Syaoran waved to Sakura and turned to leave.

Sakura turned the doorknob, "Uh, wait Syaoran.  Do you wanna stay for dinner?" She grinned, "From what I know about you, you're alone way too much,"

Syaoran ran his hand through his hair, and then nodded, "Yeah, I guess I do, huh?" he admitted and joined Sakura.

"Uh, I still have to make the dinner," Sakura remembered densely.  At least she seemed more like herself.  "You can just stay in the living room and watch TV or something,"

"Nah, it's okay.  I'll help you," Syaoran smirked and added, "besides, I can't trust your cooking,"

Sakura glared at him, "You're lucky Toya's not here, or else you'd be dead." She joked, leading Syaoran into the kitchen.

"Ooh, so you have to call your big brother to beat me up?" Syaoran went on with the teasing.

Sakura took out a pot and a pan, "No, I was just thinking about using him for an example of what I can do," she joked, and pointed at her pan.  

Syaoran sweatdropped, "okay then," he laughed.  "So what are we making?"

"Spaghetti!" Sakura cheered, selecting two packets of spaghetti noodles from a cabinet.  She tossed one to Syaoran.  "You can handle that, right?"

"Sure," Syaoran said and turned on the sink to wash his hands.  Sakura quickly laid out some cans of tomato sauce and ground meat on the counter, directing Syaoran to add the oregano, garlic powder and dry parsley.  Syaoran neatly accomplished the steps, just adding a bit of the garlic powder to Sakura's hair.

"Hey!" Sakura squealed and brushed her hair.  Then she inched closer to him, "Then you get dry parsley!"

Syaoran's hair was also sprinkled with the green flecks of parsley.  "No fair," he mumbled.

"What?  You look good with green," Sakura smiled, now covering the pot with some oil.  Next she placed the meat in it, using her spatula to flip it over every once in a while.

Syaoran brushed some of his bangs out of his eyes, "Yeah, but I have to walk home like this," he commented.

"Yays, what fun," Sakura joked, still watching the meat.  "You pour the oil out," she added, stepping back.

Syaoran nodded and drained it out into the sink.  Next was the tomato sauce.  They each poured in a can, and Sakura added oregano leaves…to both the pot and Syaoran.

Finally they had successfully prepared the meat and noodles.  All there was to do was waiting.  "Oh yeah, Syaoran you wanted to borrow that CD?" Sakura remembered.  She hopped up the stairs, retrieving it from her room.  Sakura shuffled through her desk, somewhere on the bottom draw…as she pulled objects out, she found something…it had been from Brendan.  Sakura turned over the bracelet she held in her hand, examining the pink and blue beads that made it up.  She wanted it to put it on so bad, wanted to put it on a call herself his girlfriend.  She gazed at the bracelet with awe, but shook it off when she continued searching, finding her CD at the bottom of her draw.  Strangely though, as Sakura headed back down the stairs, she racked her mind, trying to find something.  What had she seen in Brendan that made her like him so much anyway?  She puzzled on her memories of him all through dinner.

~~~~~ Next day (day before graduation ^_~) ~~~~~

"It's tomorrow!" Meilin cheered excitedly, pushing past Syaoran, and jumping onto the couch in his living room.

Syaoran nodded in monotone, following after her.  "Uh, thanks for the warning," he said sarcastically.  

"Sorry, I'm just sooo excited!" Meilin squealed as she bounced on the squishy green cushions.  "Graduation's tomorrow!"

Syaoran shrugged, failing to see what the big deal was.  "And then we never see anyone again," he remarked.  Leaning against the wall, he folded his arms.

"Nooo.  Reunions, duh," Meilin countered.  "But…" she changed the subject, "It's still exciting, right?  Any Jenny's doing her big Valedictorian speech," she added.  "I can't wait to hear that." She got up from the couch again, now heading towards the kitchen.  "Here, I'll cook dinner tonight," she decided, leaving Syaoran.

Syaoran raised his eyebrow at his cousin, although she was out of site.  He wasn't exactly looking forward to tomorrow.  Sakura hadn't been quite herself lately.  Every once in a while she seemed to just zone out.  Sure she could be dense at times…really dense.  But she never just drifted off.  But maybe he was just imagining it.  The other half of the time, Sakura was full alert a cheery, as always.  Still, Syaoran shook her off his mind again, and flopped down on the couch.  Might as well take advantage of his time, since Meilin would be doing the cooking.  He flipped through countless TV channels, finally settling on an episode of Survivor.

In the kitchen, Meilin chopped some vegetables, while talking on the phone with Jenny.  "You added something?" she asked, referring to her speech.

"Yup, but I'm saving it for tomorrow," Jenny informed her.  "You looking forward to graduation?"

"Yeah, it can't wait!  Soon I'll be on my way…"

"To where?"

"I dunno.  Anywhere.  Maybe me and Syaoran will team up and do a martial arts act," Meilin suggested, although it was hard to imagine him agreeing with her.

"Yeah, graduation's sooo close though...but I can't wait!" Jenny said, and then added, "So what's Syaoran doing after this?  Going to college I'm guessing?"

~~~~~ Graduation Day ~~~~~

The graduation was scheduled to start at twelve, but people were already showing up an hour earlier.  The sun was already out fully, and it blared in Sakura's eyes as she walked from her house to the large school fields where the ceremony was being held.  The air seemed thick, and clouds were rare in the sky….lets just say they didn't have to worry about rain.  The only thing Sakura was feeling thankful about was that they weren't having the graduation indoors.  There was no air conditioning in the auditorium.  She bit her lip, remembering her elementary school graduation, cramped in the crowded space while everyone got diplomas and cheered.  Scattered through the crowds of people getting towards their seats were familiar colors, navy blue and gold, the school colors.  (My school colors too…go 51!) Sakura strummed her fingers on the flat surface of her graduation cap, looking around for her friends.  Fujitaka and Toya had already gone to get their seats, and Sakura was looking for where they had to go…so much for the help of graduation practice.  She was never good at these kinds of instructions…

"Hey Sakura!" a voice called from her side.

Sakura waved at Jenny, "uh…where are we supposed to go?"

Jenny pointed her cap to their right, "This way.  Yeah, we figured you'd probably get lost," she sweatdropped.  Leading Sakura through the crowd, they finally arrived in a group where all the students were getting lined up.

"Eheheh…"Sakura grinned, knowing that was true.

"Ahem," a loud voice called above all students, "We're going to take attendance, and then the teachers will arrange you in your alphabetical order," the person called again.

For the next few minutes the students raised their hands shouting "here," and then shuffled around getting in their line order.  Finally it seemed organized, and it was twelve.  Sakura looked around, although she already knew who was before and after her, again because of graduation practice.  A two people ahead of her were Jenny, and two behind her was Meilin, then Syaoran.  Really, a pretty nice place to be, sandwiched between friends.  (-_-;;)

"You ready Sakura?" Jenny called from behind her.  She waved happily.

Sakura grinned, "Yup, I'm ready," she gave her a thumbs up sign.  "And you with your speech?"

"Yeah, it's all good," Jenny assured her.  She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket, smoothing it over with her fingers.  She was ready.  Besides, she had brought good luck, the little stuffed animal bunny Syaoran had given her.  (from chapter…4 ^_^)

Finally the students were marched out to the ceremony, and were seated.  There were lectures from some people no one knew, and then the school chorus sang.  Tomoyo was in the chorus.  After that though, more people talked…the principal, vise-principal, guidance counselor.  Now it was time for the Valedictorian's Speech.  

"Here's our Valedictorian, Jenny Kep," (sorry…cheesy last name…I made it up…is it a real name?"

Loud clapping started as Jenny rose from her seat, smiling faintly.  She quickly got to the stage platform in the front, unfolding her speech.  _This is it.  Make it count._  Wiping the golden colored tassel out of her eyes, Jenny began…

Authoresses Note: Hehe!  Now I have to write her speech for next chapter!  Heh, give the credit to me then ^_~…but it might stink _-_   so now Jenny's gonna apologize to Syaoran, publicly!  What will Syaoran say, since he likes Sakura!!!  Bwahahahaha!  Reviews muy bien!  Yeah, random words comin out…oh yeah, and next chapter is **not** going to be the last chapter or anything.  Nowhere near.  It's gonna start going into the summer. ^___^


	10. The Roads we take

**Authoresses Notes:  Yay, one year ago, I became a member of fanfiction.net!  One year anniversary!  Hehehe!  **It's here!  I finally sat down and wrote this…including the speech Jenny makes . hardness!  And that first quote thingy, the very first line of the speech…it's referring to X-1999 if u didn't know…u probably do, but… Don't blame me if it's kinda weird…whadya expect from a lil kid like me? whew...and just in time!  hehehe…so…in this chapter I included the second ending song from Chobits.  I just wrote the English translation though…but on the very bottom I put the Japanese…I dunno why…but it's a great song, I'm so addicted to it now! O.O  Well the chapter's not too long, but…at least I tried.

**DISCLAIMER:** Okies, I dun own CCS…CLAMP does…or the song 'Ningyo Hime' sung by Tanaka Rie...that's from another of CLAMP's works, Chobits…or the saying 'their destiny was foreordained' from X-1999 also another of CLAMP.  Yeah, they're all CLAMP…not me.  I just got this storyline I made up    

****_ Loud clapping started as Jenny rose from her seat, smiling faintly.  She quickly got to the stage platform in the front, unfolding her speech.  This is it.  Make it count.  Wiping the golden colored tassel out of her eyes, Jenny began… _****

**Transformations**

**By AutumnIllusion**

**Chapter 10: The roads we take**

****

**_Their destiny was foreordained_**

**_That was a concept in a book I once read.  In it, the characters were all playing a part in fate.  There was a path to choose, paving the way for something unavoidable.  I felt bad for the characters, all puppets in the hands of destiny.  I felt sad for those characters, which had no options to escape their doomed future.  But people make their own destinies.  Everything changes.  Live life to the fullest.  By saying that, I don't mean to measure it in victories.  Do what you want, but at the same time don't be careless.  We've all made it here standing, not meaning just us students.  We have to give credit to the teachers who didn't kill us after all we've put them through...paper balls, hour long detentions, running in the hallways...and more than they should know.  So then again, even if we're here today, it doesn't mean we don't have bandages and broken bones.  That's okay though.  Always know there's someone who's going to miss you, whether it's out of love or hate.  Be selfish.  Do things to make you happy.  Because…ten years from now…we'll be old!  Nah, we're just supposed to have more 'knowledge' in us.  Don't live to fill those expectations unless they're your goals.  There's a difference between changing for your benefit, and changing for the 'better' of everyone else.  Don't ever change to make someone happy, if you aren't too.  So what have I just told you?  Truthfully, I'm not completely sure.  There are so many concepts I want to try to get through to you.  I don't expect you to follow them though.  Things just happen, without warning.  People are all different, inside and out.  I don't want to change you.  It's just an idea to run through your mind, possibly going right out the other ear.  I don't care if you never remember this after this day, just remember it now.  People…we pave our own roads, and there's no one to blame, no one to take credit for but yourself._**

****

It all came out right.  Jenny smiled and took her last pause, finishing the official part of her speech.  It wasn't anything incredible, just the truth.  Just her truth.  And she had one more thing to say. 

**"_And still, I want to say one more thing for new beginnings.  This is for a special someone: I'm so sorry for not trusting you; I made a bad decision.  Can you forgive me, Syaoran Li?"_**

****

It was a path, paving the way for something unavoidable.  In the midst of the students, Syaoran sat in his seat, speechless the moment he heard those words.  A mix of "Aww!" "Kawaii!" and "Heh, my ex never did that for me," came from the audience.  The look in Jenny's eyes on this day, this beautiful day was…too innocent, too perfect to bring down…

**_Be selfish.  Do things to make you happy._**

****

Syaoran swiped those words away and stood up.  "Sure Jenny, of course." And to add more of a touch for the crowd he added, "I guess that means you forgive me too, eh?"

Jenny nodded.  Syaoran nodded.  Sakura giggled.  Tomoyo steadied her camera.  Everything was perfect.  

"And now, we start the distributing of the diplomas.  First, Tara Abigails…"

** Later **

The day stayed cloudless, simply a blue sheet hanging over the people.  There was a scheduled lunch the high school was holding, set right on the graduation grounds.  Congratulations were exchanged from every direction, laughing accompanying it.  Syaoran made his way past the crowds, looking...where were those emerald eyes?  

"Syaoran!"

He beamed, and turned around, "There you are, I've been looking all over for you, S-" and was face to face with Jenny.

The tassel still swinging back and forth, obviously Jenny had been running to catch up with Syaoran.  "Really?  I couldn't find you either, at first…finally I saw Sakura, and she said she saw you in this direction…" she went on.

Syaoran's mouth dropped to the ground, and a sweatdrop replaced his head, all without Jenny's notice.  "Uh, where did you-"he started to ask for where she had run into Sakura.

Jenny held up her plate, "The food?  Oh, you didn't even eat yet?" she handed him a slice of watermelon, "eat, before you dehydrate," she teased.

Syaoran dropped his shoulders and took the watermelon.  "Thanks Jenny," he smiled, really trying to make it pure.  It came out successfully, but anyone else would call it the smile you give your classmate when they hold the door open for you, or when your friend invites you to a party…just a friendship smile.

Jenny took Syaoran by the hand and led him to the front of one of the food tables.  "Here ya go!" she passed him a plate.

When Syaoran had gotten his food, the _couple_ walked over to under the shade of some trees.  All over the grounds were trees, varying in different kinds.  At most people were already sitting, just like having a picnic.  They found one where people hadn't completely settled in yet, and sat down.  Syaoran leaned against its sturdy trunk.  It was…a cherry blossom tree.

Just on time, Sakura and the gang found their way over to the tree.

"Hi Jenny!" Sakura called and waved happily.  She grabbed her arm and led her over to the side.

"I did it!" Jenny squealed.  She passed on some grapes.

Sakura popped one into her mouth, "See, it worked out fine!" she grinned, "Syaoran really is a great guy…you're a lucky person,"

Jenny laughed, "Of course, I've always known I'm lucky," she joked.

"Don't let him go, okay?" Sakura continued lecturing, with her smile still spreading.  A moment of quiet passed between the two, and Sakura couldn't help but notice something that she lacked…something…maybe it was just missing Brendan.  Or maybe…maybe it was Syaoran getting back together with Jenny…nah, it couldn't be anything…

"So how does it feel to be a graduate, my cute lil descendant?" Eriol popped up, and he held the camcorder that Tomoyo usually kept by her side.  Actually, Tomoyo was nowhere to be seen...something like the chorus performing by the stage.

"Phweee!" Sakura yelped in surprise.  She fell over, anime-style.  "Eriol-I-didn't-see-you-there!" she gasped out and patted her heart.

"Hey, Sakura, you seem a little denser than usually now, huh?  You looked like you were dazin' off just now," Meilin bit into an apple.

Yamazaki stepped up too, "Speaking of dazing off…it's a bad thing to do.  Very risky.  That's the most vulnerable time for the shadow walker to get you!"

"Hoeeee?!"

"Yes, I'm afraid it's true."

"What's the 'Shadow Walker'?"

"Why, don't you know?  As I was saying, most of the time it comes when-"

"Takashi Yamazaki, bet your butt back over here, and take your lies with ya!"

"So...what does it look like?" Sakura asked carefully, thinking of the possible times 'Shadow Walker'

"Don't worry about it Sakura, it's not real," Chiharu patted Sakura's head maturely.

Yamazaki pouted playfully, "Aww, Chiharu, you ruin all my fun,"

Chiharu grinned, "And your point?" none the less, she hugged Yamazaki. 

Eriol waved her to the side, "As I was saying, what's it like?  I need an answer, lil descendant.  If not, Tomoyo won't have any records,"

Syaoran glared sarcastically, "Eriol, don't call her that, weirdo.  First, no one gets what it means, and second, you have a girlfriend," he punched Eriol's shoulder lightly…kind of.

Smirking, Eriol's glasses seemed to shine in the daylight, "Heh, fine.  So Sakura, what do you think?"

"It's great!  But I'm gonna miss everyone!" Sakura squealed.

"Hai," the group of friends agreed.

"Hey kaijuu," a voice mocked.  Sakura maintained the smile on her face, and ignored her brother, without even having to look him in the eye.  "Wassup Toya?"

"Here," Toya started to hold out a congratulations bouquet, from him, Fujitaka, and Yukito.  

Still, before Toya could hand over the flowers, Yukito whispered a suggestion.  Toya frowned rebelliously, but obeyed.  Turning to face Syaoran, he shoved the bouquet to him.

"Why ya givin' this to me?!" Syaoran asked like Toya was insane.

Toya flicked Syaoran's forehead, "Brat, I mean give them to Sakura!" she hissed.  

Fujitaka chuckled, watching the scene from the side.

Syaoran sweatdropped slightly, "Why me?"

Toya ignored the question.  "Take care of Sakura," he flatly remarked.

Raising his eyebrow, Syaoran simply said, "Huh?  What's that supposed to mean?"

Yukito tried to hide his laughter, amazed at Syaoran's denseness.  He just shook his head, a smile creeping up his cheeks.  "Toya, what are you, giving Sakura away?  I know you don't get along with her, but…" he joked.  _Sounds like as if she were getting married or something,_ He mussed from afar.

"Take-care-of-Sakura-don't-hurt-her-we'll-be-watchng-you-and-make-her-smile-got-that?" Toya demanded, but only so Syaoran could hear.

Syaoran blinked, and then turned the slightest shade pink.  "Uh, you don't think we're-"

"I missed part of the ceremony." Toya shot back, pretending he had missed Jenny's speech.  It was easy to tell he would just ignore what he wanted.

"Eheheh…I'm you know, me and Sakura aren't—"suddenly pink carnations were about two centimeters away from his face. 

"Take them, loser."  There was something in Toya's eye, something Syaoran couldn't place.  It was something he already knew, something that Syaoran would just…have to trust.

Syaoran rubbed his forehead..._aiyaa_…"Fine." he gave in.  It wasn't like he had much of a choice.  He was now in the death grip of Toya, and there were only two options: giving the flowers, or prepare for major tissues and a subscription of Alegra.  "Achoo!" he added, but snatched the flowers anyway.   He approached Sakura from behind, and tapped her shoulder.

"Hai?" she turned around in the most angelic way ever…an angel dressed in a navy blue graduation gown with gold colored lining.  Her hair seemed to float around her in slow motion as she faced Syaoran, and from behind it revealed glittering orbs of the deepest green.

"Uh," Syaoran held out the flowers, "It's from your brother,"

Sakura grinned, "Heh, stinky baka didn't even give them to me himself…Hehehe." She cradled them in her arms.  "Thanks for getting them here for me,"

"No problem," Syaoran said coolly.  _'No problem' _his mind echoed back to him.  _ What kind of a stupid line is that?!_ He mentally…no, it came out physically, cursed at his actions.  =P

** Jenny and Syaoran **

For a while, the cherry blossom tree seemed to be swarmed with other classmates passing by…some saying their hellos or goodbyes, congratulations or thanks.  Most of them whispered their happiness for Jenny.  Syaoran sighed.  It was frustrating, getting pushed to the back of the line to speak to Jenny.  But then again, maybe it was good to stall time.  And maybe…maybe he wouldn't have to break up with her.  _I could…start acting really…different! _He searched for a solution.  _And she would end up breaking up with me, all by herself,_ he frowned, _nah, I can't do that to Jenny._ He looked at Jenny, laughing with some other girls on the side.  She looked so innocent, like a child who had woken up on Christmas to find everything the wished for.  The concept was the same…she wished he would come back.  And he gave it to her.  _She could go on like this forever,_ He thought, _and never know of pain.  Wouldn't that be better for everyone?_

"Syao?" Jenny inched closer to Syaoran now that the others were gone, finally only them two sat under the tree.

"Hmm?"

Jenny pulled up her knees to her chest, but not for warmth.  "I'm…glad we're together again.  Right?"

Syaoran finally looked towards Jenny.  "Yeah," he croaked the words out softly.  Maybe…he could try to like her again.  It would be best for everyone.

Jenny closed her eyes and leaned in for the kiss.  Their lips brushed on each other, just a short sweet, childish kiss.  Guilt took Syaoran over.

** And then…**

Next was the choir.  Their voices cut clearly through the air, capturing the attention of everyone…almost.  That familiar amber eyed student racked his brain, trying to find a solution, make everything work.  But then again…it was too late.  Syaoran's thoughts were only cut through, finally, when they all faded to one voice.

The voice was soft, but every word rang through.  Amethyst eyes glittered and the voice went for a high note, hit it, went for a lower, hit it again.  There was nothing like the sound of Tomoyo's voice.  It was the closest thing to comfort Syaoran's worries for the moment…to get his mind of that green eyes girl, if only for a few minutes.

_At night, the town is quiet like the bottom of the ocean_

_I continue down the road by myself_

_Guided by the distant voice_

_I keep searching for the soft blue light_

And Sakura?  Her eyes held no trace of sadness, regret, or any of that kind…at first.  How was Brendan?  She couldn't help but lean to her side, and discreetly glance towards him.  

_Hey I discovered myself within_

_And my spirit calls out to me_

_No matter how far away I am, I can hear it_

He winked at Ruri, flashing that familiar smile, the one he had once given Sakura.  That Brendan, he must be one of the few of our dear characters completely content on this day.  Do we worship or envy this?

_The silver light burns within every room_

_I walk around hoping for it anywhere, surely_

This was one of the other rare characters who we can worship or envy for their ability to have no idea.  No idea of the ivy vines creeping up the back wall, no hint of the bad.  But then again, maybe she knew.  Jenny was the type that you'd expect to know these things.  Maybe her mind had filtered it, and only good thoughts were left, and dreams turned to reality.

_Hey I found you_

_And so, without leaving you again_

_No matter how much I hurt inside I'll always be near you_

_I'll never release your hand that I held_

His eyes were weak.  Water tried to wedge itself up into his amber orbs, as if trying to cool them down.  Still, he could hold back the tears, and that's what he did.  Syaoran wasn't going to ruin this day for Jenny too, no, he wouldn't.

_Hey I found you_

_And so, without leaving you again_

_No matter how much I hurt inside I'll always be near you_

_Forever_

_Forever_

**----- Translation -----**

yoru no machi ha shizuka de fukai umi no you tsudzuku michi ni tada ATASHI hitori dake tooi koe o tayori ni aruite yuku no zutto sagashiteru sotto hikaru aoi hikari nee  ATASHI o mitsukete soshite yonde  KOKORO de donna ni hanareta toshite mo  kikoeru kara gin no akari ga tomaru sorezore no heya kitto doko ka niha iru to negai nagara aruku nee  ANATA o mitsukete soshite nido to  wasurezu donna ni mune ga itakutemo  soba ni iru no tsunaida te o hanasanai kara nee  ATASHI ga  ANATA o mitsukete soshite nido to  wasurezu donna ni mune ga itakutemo  soba ni iru no zutto zutto 


	11. The Needle and Thread

**Transformations**

****

**Chapter 11: The Needle and Thread**

**By AutumnIllusion**

**Authoresses Note: **Whoooo!!  10 freakin pages!  =)) I'm back!  I think I got my humor back too, at least more than the last month or so where I was stuck…-- so anyway, here it is!  Oh yeah, one more thing though!  I need HELP!  Yes, the story is not over, but it has reached its turning point.  I need suggestions on what happens now!  if anyone has any, they're encouraged!  Tell me!

**DISCAIMER: **yaaahh…CLAMP owns it all except the storyline of this story!  Heheeheeeeee don't sue.

Syaoran had a blank look in his amber orbs, like a fire burning dim.  He didn't want to do this.  He didn't want it anymore.  But he had to, it was for the best.  He looked at the white painted door in front of him, deeply concentrating on each and every little carve in it.  Not that it meant anything to him anyway though.  He drew his eyes away from it with a blink, and knocked on the door.

"Syao!"

Syaoran now held Jenny in his arms, from a leap she had greeted him with.  If there was ever a time he would feel sympathy for Toya when Nakuru hung on him, this would be the time.  _Glomp…_

 Jenny stepped back, and brushed her shirt, straightening it out.  "Hehe," she grinned.  Closing the door behind her, she tugged Syaoran alongside her.  "Where to?  You said you had a surprise…"

"Well I was thinking…"

_"Minature Golf!"_

_Syaoran raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger at himself.  "Me?  Golf?"_

_Sakura flashed some kind of advertisement in front of Syaoran, "Yup.__  But more like: You, Jenny, and golf!  And it's minature golf," she corrected him, waving the golf flyer around.  "It'll be fun, now that you've gotten back together,"_

_"Hmm…" Syaoran crossed his shoulders.  "I'm not too much of a guy who does golf and sports, I'm just REALLY good at them, that's all," he smirked._

_"Shuddup Syaoran, bragging is something I wouldn't recommend," Sakura coached.  "and it'll be fun, I'm sure.  Couples always go there!"_

_"That's what I feared," he muttered under his breath but cleared it away.  "Well okay then…" Syaoran held his hand out until the flyer was placed in them.  "hey, 20 bucks each?!"  he gaped at the information.  "What, do I have to pay for this?!" he glared at Sakura._

_"Hehe, yeah, that's the catch," Sakura smirked.  "Don't be a cheapskate," she suggested again.  Seeing Syaoran's glare remain, Sakura added, "Fine, no it's not a catch.  Just joking.  I got some free passes to it."_

Syaoran sweatdropped, and felt for money in his pocket.  "…minature golf."

"Oooh, really?!" Jenny's face lit up.  "How did you know?  This is gonna be so much fun!"

**_ Sakura _**

"Hey, Tomoyo, are you busy tonight?"

"Hmm?  Nope, not doing much.  How come?"

"Can I…come over?  Can we have a sleepover?"

"Oh, of course Sakura-chan!  I gotta take measurements for your new clothes anyway!  Ohohoho…"

Sakura fell over anime style- oh wait, no she just tripped over her backpack.  But then again, she would have fallen over anime-style anyway.

"Hey, did I just hear something?"

"Ahh, I'm okay…I tripped, Eheheh," Sakura assured and rubbed her head.  "I was told my mother was clumsy too, so I guess I've gotten those genes passed on," she smiled.  "Anyway, can I come over now?"

"Yeah, that's fine.  You sound rushed.  Are you sure you're okay?"

Sakura plastered on a fake smile, although Tomoyo wouldn't be able to see her try anyway.  And if she was, Tomoyo would shake her head at it, and see right through it.  "Yupyup, I'm fine.  Just a little jumpy or something.  Bored I guess.  Toya's the only one home tonight, Dad's working late…well I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

The call ended, and Sakura stuffed a duffel bag with her pajamas and sleeping things.  She just wanted a distraction…she couldn't bare to think of Brendan.  Brushing the thought of him away, Sakura told Toya she was spending the night at Tomoyo's and left quickly.  Outside the air was pretty thick with the humidity of summer.  Although Sakura wanted to walk faster to get to Tomoyo's, she slowed down a little.

Sakura rang the intercom and was let into the mansion easily.  She swung her bag at her side, feeling a little better after a walk…a little.

Tomoyo stood at the front door, prepared in her battle suit:  A measuring string circled her forehead conveniently, while in one hand rested a fully loaded pincushion and thimble, the other with a spool of thread.  Very dangerous to approach indeed.  Must do so with caution.  "Hi Sakura!  Come on in!"

The two best friends walked through the long hallways that surely any normal person would get lost searching.  At least Sakura had about fourteen years of experience.  (lets say they met in kindergarten ;P)

"Oh, hello Sakura!"

Sakura cranked her neck to see Tomoyo's mother Sonomi aka Sakura's second aunt (something like that….e.e) while also tagging behind Tomoyo as she led her to her room.  "Oh, hi Ms. Daidouji!" Sakura nodded her head.  She stumbled a little as she was yanked up the stairs.

"Tomoyo dear, slow down a little.  Sakura's about to fall over," the business looking woman commented.  Sonomi was head of a very successful toy company.  Lets think Martha Stewart big.  Well, not exactly Martha Stewart, if you know what I mean.  Sonomi trailed behind the two friends, and they all ended up in Tomoyo's gigantic bedroom.

"So you're staying the night Sakura?" Sonomi flipped her short straight hair.

Sakura tossed her duffel bag over by Tomoyo's bed before plopping down onto a lavender colored rug.  "Yep.  That's okay, right?"

Sonomi nodded.  "Yes, of course it is.  I just wanted to make sure that you asked your father Fujita—" she paused, thinking over her words.  "Fujita—dmn that little pompous windbag who took away precious Nadesiko!  She was so young!  That little…!" went on Sonomi.  She sure held a grudge against Sakura's father and the marriage.  Finally stopping the ranting outbreak, Sonomi sighed, taking deep breathes.  "One Mississippi…" she muttered.  Looking up at Sakura, Sonomi added, "But your mother said he was a good person so…" she pouted.  "I'll just say nothing to that.  Heh, not that I care if he wanted you here or not.  We'll take you in!"

Tomoyo, who had been listening to Sonomi calmly, was obviously used to the complaints.  Now at the part of taking Sakura in, she seemed to glide over to her mother and they high fived.  "Yeah!" they chorused with an almost evil look in their eye.

"Phwee…" Sakura was dizzy from all ranting.  "Err, yeah," he sweatdropped at the mother daughter alliance forming.

"Well, I'll go check on how the cooks are coming along with dinner," Sonomi finally decided.  She stood up business like again and smiled.  "Tomoyo, did you tell Sakura about your summer project?"

"Not yet," Tomoyo admitted, checking out her needles with a poke in the pincushion.  "Well Sakura, it is…" she started.  "To make a complete set of Sakura-wear!" she exclaimed.  Now the pincushion would be substituted with Sakura's sweatdropping face.  Construction.  Major construction this summer.

"Phwee, really?" Sakura laughed at her friend's goal, which would include a lot of trying on things and measurements from the one and only cherry blossom.

"Hehehe, yes really," Tomoyo repeated in agreement.  She held up the measuring tape.  "And I'll start taking measurements now!"

**_ Syaoran _**

By the time Syaoran and Jenny had arrived, the golf course was pretty filled with young couples working their way around the course.  That didn't exactly calm the nerve in Syaoran's stomach.

"Hey Brat,"

Syaoran cringed.  That couldn't be…

"Two, I'm guessing."  The figure that stood in a booth by the entrance of the golf course was…

"Yeah _Touya_, two." He looked behind him to see Jenny looking around.  "Here, i got free passes," he emptied them out for the man when Jenny wasn't looking.  If there was the opportunity, don't let the date know how cheap you really are.

"Okay then, here's two golf balls, two clubs…" the two men paused, thinking over the meaning of a 'club' and what you could do with it.  You could play golf with it, in closer meaning you could hit a ball with it, you could hit a person with it, or even better hit an annoying _brat_ who's a friend of your sister/an annoying overprotective _brother_ with it.

The possibilities stung in each other's minds, and they _very gallantly_ overcame them for the sake of Sakura.  Without harming each other, Touya handed Syaoran the lethal weapon aka golf club, in which Syaoran merely nodded in silent truce not to _physically_ do harm to each other…tonight anyway.  "New job?"

Touya dipped his head in a bored fashion.  "Yeah, pays okay."

Syaoran let his nod from before carry on faintly until it died down when he felt stupid when he noticed it.

"Those free passes were from Sakura, weren't they?"

Syaoran shuffled his feel boyishly.  "Yeah,"

"Thought so," Touya finished and let Syaoran think about it.  "Gopher Golf, may I help you?" Touya turned his attention to his next customer.  Touya's bored face was no longer bored, it looked more like a state of horror and shock in the time passing of one second.  Syaoran actually wished he had a camera with him to replay the expression change…gee, sounded like Tomoyo was rubbing off on him.

"Hello…Naku-ku…" Touya stumbled over the dreaded words.

"HIII TOUYA-CHAN!" Touya's gopher on his hat must have been knocked off in fear, as Nakuru jumped on him, quite a task to do, going in a way, _over_ the front of the booth.  "AWW, YOU MADE A NICKNAME FOR MEEEE!!!!  IT'S SO CUUUUUTTTEEE!  CAN I CALL YOU…"

"No Nakuru, I wasn't giving you a nickname, I just—"

"HOW ABOUT TOUYAYAAAA?!"

"No, don't you dare call me—"

"IT'S PERFECT!  TOUYAYAYAYAYAAAAAAAA!  YOU CAN ADD AS MANY 'YA' AS YOU WANT, AND THE MORE 'YA' THE CUTER!  DON'T YOU THINK?"

Carefully avoiding the horror scene going on by the booth, Syaoran joined again with Jenny.  "Here you go," he attempted a smile, truly attempted one, and handed Jenny her golf club.  The thing is though, he hadn't been successful.

**_ Sakura _**

"Uh Tomoyo, sorry to be short on patience, but are we done _yet_?" Sakura sighed and dropped her shoulders a little.  Her arms had been outstretched to her sides for way to long without a rest.

Tomoyo mumbled something like, "miighealmoddugh," and pinned a piece of experimental cloth around Sakura's waist like a skirt.  She slipped one of the needles held in mouth out and pinned.

"Huh?"

"I'm almost done," Tomoyo repeated once she had emptied out the needles.

"But you said that before," Sakura objected.

"Yes, but now all I have to do is…" Tomoyo lost her thread of conversation in focusing on the measurements.

"Okay then," Sakura quieted down.  Today she just felt a little…

"Sakura, can I ask you a question?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, "Hmm?  Sure,"

Tomoyo reached for her measuring tape and unwinded it.  "Are you okay?"

"Wha?" apparently Sakura had been caught off guard by such a general question.  She sighed and considered it.  "Kinda…"

Silence waited, urging her to go on.  Tomoyo had a way with those things.

"I miss Brendan a little, to be truthful."

Still not a direct word of response.

"Well, more than a little.  I'm mad at him too, but I can't do anything about it,"

Finally Tomoyo was satisfied with the answer she knew had been waiting to be told.  "Really?"

Now it was Sakura's turn, and she just nodded to let Tomoyo lead the conversation.

"Maybe you need someone new," she scribbled something down onto a piece of paper.

"Or just not to have anyone," Sakura added with a tinge of bitterness.

Tomoyo laughed at this sweetly and shook her head.  "No," she unhooked the cloth, "You're better off being with someone.  That's the type of person you are."

Sakura bit her lip.  "Really?"

"Yes, eventually it'll get better," Tomoyo cooed.  Sakura's innocence in not seeing what was around her, who was around her…was an amazing strength and fault.

"Okay then," Sakura triumphantly put on a grin.  "I'll try to be happy," she tried her best to give a thumbs up while still holding her arms out to be measured.

Tomoyo beamed and patted her best friend on the head.  "And I'm finished measuring," which was responded with a heap of 'yay!'

**_ Syaoran _**

The actual minature golf was going pretty well for Syaoran.  He had gotten some kind of technique down, and very proud of it.  Jenny was doing well too.  Syaoran was just relieved he wouldn't have to spend the whole game standing behind her like some pervert 'helping' her skill.  She already knew how exactly to swing a golf club and get the ball in the hole.

On the other hand, the environment if you'd say, around them was a little strange.  The whole time he could feel Touya's eyes on his back, watching him.  He was still overprotective, even when Sakura wasn't even there.  Then tailing behind Syaoran and Jenny were Nakuru and Eriol.  Eriol he had gotten used to his 'creepy' like presence, and had eventually created some sort of friendship or alliance with him.  None the less, he felt this strange aura around him.  A creepy one.  He always had this smirk on when he looked and saw Syaoran and Jenny together like a couple.  Syaoran could take a pretty good guess that he knew something.  Maybe he had spoken with Tomoyo.  Put them together and they'd trample all over Syaoran's hidden feelings about Sakura.  A very dangerous thing.  Syaoran could always see that smirk in the corner of his eye.  Eriol and Nakuru seemed to be behind them through the whole course. 

When Syaoran and Jenny were at the windmill, Eriol and Nakuru were behind them waiting for it. 

When Syaoran and Jenny were at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Eriol and Nakuru were at the windmill. 

When Syaoran and Jenny were at the Egyptian Pyramids, Eriol and Nakuru were at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

When Syaoran and Jenny were at the Eiffel Tower, Eriol and Nakuru were at the Egyptian Pyramids.

When Syaoran and Jenny were at the San Francisco Bay Bridge, Eriol and Nakuru were at the Eiffel Tower.

And so this had continued, and Syaoran tried his best to ignore Touya's glare power from burning him down, Eriol's smirk, and Nakuru's constant cheering and squealing.  He just tried to focus on making the most of his date with Jenny.  It was strange though, not to mention Eriol or Nakuru never missed a shot in one stroke.  It was like they were doing something magical…creepy.  He shrugged it off and took his turn at the Statue of Liberty, where the ball rolled slowly, stopping right before the hole.

"Oh, so close Syao!" Jenny cheered.  She applauded him and took her turn, finishing with three strokes to get it in.

Syaoran nodded and just went for it.  He leaned in, and gave Jenny a kiss.  He was going to try to be happy, even if it wasn't with Sakura.  Jenny was a nice…friend.  He inwardly sighed with that failure.  He'd have to try harder to be happy with her.  Suddenly he felt maximum glare power on his back, no more aimed on his head.  He hoped it didn't explode.  Eriol was most likely grinning his ass off, and he saw to his relieve that at least Eriol at slammed his hand over Nakuru's mouth to keep her from screaming something.

**_ A day later _**

"So how was it?" Sakura reached for the remote control across the coffee table of Syaoran's living room.  Her fingers brushed against it, knocking it closer until in better reach.  "Did you kiss her?" she inquired with an evil grin.  Fun to mock her 'student'.

"Ahh…" running his hand through his hair loosely, Syaoran then paced around the room.  "Eheh," he laughed a little nervously.  "Wait!" he exclaimed.  "You didn't tell me your brother worked at the golf place!"

Sakura shrugged simply.  "Yeah, he always has these changing jobs,"

Syaoran glared at the memory of their encounter the other day.

"So did you kiss her?"

"Yeah.  You're kinda nosy, you know?"

Sakura went for some channel surfing, and yanked Syaoran down next to her.  He was caught at a most unexpecting moment, toppled over.  "Phwee!" he landed inches away from being directly 'on' Sakura, hyperventilating.  How dense she really was.

"Hey, you stole my 'phwee!' saying!" Sakura remarked.  "Tsk, tsk," she shook her head sarcastically.  "And you almost crushed me!"

Syaoran was still frozen in the position of falling, his arms holding himself above her safely.  "I was not going to crush you!" he stammered.

"Suuure, coughfatsiecough," Sakura joked.  Of course she knew he wasn't anything near that.  He looked pretty good…_Not that I like him or anything,_ Sakura tapped her head.

"Hmph," Syaoran snorted arrogantly, and stood up, and- "Gah!"

"There, is that so hard?" Sakura now had Syaoran sitting next to her on the couch, watching TV.

Syaoran slumped down, recalling the measures he had taken in that split second to make sure he fell down right.  Slow motion: Syaoran yelled "Gaaoaahh!" (this is slow motion, remember stretched out) and eyes went all swirly spinny.  He used his use of martial arts body awareness and propelled himself forward enough to not collapse on Sakura, and sort of 'leap' over her to twist onto his behind and sit down…and this is all in mid-falling.

"Well at least you didn't take my 'phwee!' this time," Sakura patted Syaoran on the head, grinning.  "Okay, TV time now!" she reached again for the remote control, and at the same time so did Syaoran.

_Durfff__…_ Syaoran realized immediately that his hand was on top of Sakura's.  _Something must be wrong with me,_ he sweatdropped.  That is, after he yanked his hand off of Sakura's in embarrassment.

Sakura triumphantly waved the control.  "Tee hee, I got it!  Letsee, maybe some SpongeBob Squarepants today?"  She clicked the remote down… "Ooh, I _love_ this movie!"

Syaoran noticed Sakura's beaming face and followed her gaze at the screen.  Looked like some chick flick or something…at least he knew it wasn't Josie and the Pussycats.  He didn't know if he could handle that.

"She's All That!" Sakura squealed.  "It's such a cute one!  Freddy Prince Jr. is soo…" she cheered.

_No, I don't think I can handle this either._ Syaoran decided, watching Sakura drool.  "Can we switch to something else?" he asked faintly.

Sakura pouted, but switched the channel again, jellyfishing for channel with SpongeBob.  "Okay then.  But the plot is so cute!  Know what it's about?  It's like this guy who fixes up this geeky girl to make her look pretty, and then he starts to fall for her but…"

Syaoran blushed.  Situation reminding him of something else...Sakur-

"Ohhhhh…who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!"

Syaoran mentally glared at the TV, disturbing his thoughts.

"SpongeBob Squarepants!" Sakura chorused with the television.  Sad for Syaoran to admit, he had remembered the lyrics to the song too.

"SpongeBob Squarepants!" Sakura chanted with the TV.  Syaoran shrugged.  _What the heck,_ he opened his mouth, "SpongeBob Squaaarreeepaaants!" all three cheered quite loudly.

Then a knocking sound was heard from his door.  "Xiao Lang?"

Syaoran's mouth stopped in the middle of the next roll of "SpongeBo-" and he turned off the television.  Scrambling over to answer the door, he straightened his hair as mush as he could, though it wasn't much.  He opened the door, mentally trying to prepare for the worst.

"Hi Xiao Lang!  It's us, your sisters!"

Syaoran clenched his eyes shut, knowing what would come next.  _GLOMP_ or maybe more of a _TRAMPLE_.  He tried to keep breathing through the four full grown females practically suffocating him in their embrace.  "Hey Sis…"

"Aww, is this your girlfriend?!"

"What's her name?"

"She's adorable!"

"Way to go Little Wolf!"

Suddenly he was of release, literally dropped to the floor.  Now the one he was going to hope had health insurance was Sakura.  _Aaahh, they think SAKURA'S my GIRLFRIEND!_

Authoresses Note: Yes.  Syaoran singing SpongeBob Squarepants.  Imagine that.  ::rolls over laughing insanely:: very weird.  Either completely kawaii or a lil disturbing…works both ways for me, but in a good way so tell me your suggestions!  I might not necessarily use them, but they're all appreciated so much!  I need to know what you want to happen to your beloved Sakura and Syaoran!

Touya!  In his bunny costume!  Yes, now he has a gopher costume too, at least a hat anyway.  Yes, I had fun torturing him this chapter…


	12. The Dreamers

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**Transformations**

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**Chapter 12: The Dreamers**

**By AutumnIllusion**

**Authoress' Notes: **Wheee! I was looking forward to doing this chapter ::starry eyes:: hope u likes I had fun writng it…=)) Just hope I got the sister's names right…I checked some place that told me the names…hope I'm correct. I been watching the Olympic opening tonight! Soo cool…must watch the swimmers…::on a swim club:: soo cool…anyways, about the story =P Thanks to _Hououza_ especially, who gave me the idea suggestion for what to do next…although I slightly changed it around, it was very helpful! Arigato!

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own CCS and characters, CLAMP does. So there.

"Hi Xiao Lang! It's us, your sisters!"

Syaoran clenched his eyes shut, knowing what would come next. _GLOMP_ or maybe more of a _TRAMPLE_. He tried to keep breathing through the four full grown females practically suffocating him in their embrace. "Hey Sis…"

"Aww, is this your girlfriend?!"

"What's her name?"

"She's adorable!"

"Way to go Little Wolf!"

Suddenly he was of release, literally dropped to the floor. Now the one he was going to hope had health insurance was Sakura. _Aaahh__, they think SAKURA'S my GIRLFRIEND!_

**:.:.:.:.:.:**

"How long have you been dating?"

"You can just call me oneechan!"

Syaoran was in a sort of state of shock from the events happening in the last…say thirty seconds. He traced them over in his mind carefully, trying to find out just what had happened. His sisters had bound through the door at an alarming speed, had then tackled him, dropped him (quite a deadly combination), then ran over to Sakura because they thought…

"Phwee?" Sakura was also having trouble with adapting to the breathing situation while in the grips of some overly-excited girls cawing over her.

Rubbing his head from when someone's purse had met his skull, Syaoran finally scrambled up from the floor. "Uhh…"

"Xiao Lang,"

He stopped in mid stride in his attempt rescue Sakura before she fainted of surprise. "Mo-mother!" with one swift pivot of his heel, Syaoran turned and bowed immediately to the voice. When he looked up, his back was as straight as a board, and he held the posture. "Hello Mother,"

The woman at the doorway was in the simplest words, beautiful. Then again, to describe her so simply would seem a sense of dishonor to her. So in more detailed phrasing, she was like a porcelain china doll. Wearing traditional robes that lingered a high state around her, the woman stood, one foot in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. She seemed quite young, but much serious than others in her age category. Her long silky black hair was swept into a high ponytail decorated with red flower decorative, matching the sash on her robes. "You seem…well," the woman, apparently Syaoran's mother observed with a small wince.

"Yes, quite." Syaoran agreed in monotone. He gestured stiffly towards the couch, but then noticed that it was occupied with his giggling sisters already. "Uh, take a seat…somewhere," he murmured the last part.

"No, there's no need. First I need to go back and check how the butler is doing with the luggage." The woman backed out of the apartment. "Last time I checked, he hadn't even gotten it in the elevator." With those last words, she left, out of sight.

"Wha-?" Syaoran's mouth hung open, a sort of rare sight to see. "Since when are…" he merely pointed out his door, then at his living room. That gesture repeated multiple times before one of his sisters chirped in.

"We're visiting of course!" she bounced on the couch comfortably. Finally released of the girl's deathly hug, Sakura sweatdropped, sandwiched between the four.

"So this is your girlfriend, right?" inquired another sister, nodding approvingly at Sakura, which received red faces from both her and Syaoran.

Syaoran ran his hand through his hair casually, and then a small smirk came, one only Sakura noticed, but then faded as quickly as it had appeared. "Kura? Yeah, sure is," he decided it was his turn to make a joke. He would just let it go for a few minutes, a few minutes of fun…and evil.

"Gah…?" Sakura blinked in awe at Syaoran. "Wha…"

"Yeah, we've been going out for a few months already. Sure is a cutie, isn't she?" he carefully yanked Sakura over to him, then taking all his courage into this fun prank, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"I wanna be your best man!" spurted one of his sisters again. Then she paused and looked over her choice of words. "Well, not _man_…can I be your bridesmaid?! Flower girl?!"

"Ahhhh…ahahahhh…" Syaoran furrowed at the imaginations of his sisters. Talk about planning ahead…not that him and Sakura would ever…they weren't even…

"Uhh…Syaoran, who are they?" Sakura tried to follow on with the scene. She looked up to Syaoran, and when she noticed how close he really was to her, she…blushed.

"Those are my sisters," he shook his head to explain just how amazed he was on the family relations he held with the four hyper-active girls, "That's Fuutie, Fu, Shiefa, and Fanren." He nodded his head towards each girl.

"O-ohh…" Sakura could smell a faint smell of chocolate smudged into Syaoran's aura. His shirt smelled of fresh ironing and even in that, the slightest tint of chocolate again. It smelled good. _Wait, stop it!_ She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again to find herself standing alone. Syaoran had released her from his embrace, and now stood in the kitchen. "Anyone want a drink?"

Sakura stared at nothing in particular for a second, trying to remember feeling the warmth in Syaoran. _Ah, nevermind,_ she brought herself to take a seat at a chair.

Five minutes or so of pretending, and finally Syaoran let Sakura out of her teasing. "Okay, really," Syaoran caught the attention of his sisters. "Sakura's just my close friend. We're not going out, never have," he explained, patting Sakura on the head, while all she said was, "Phwee…"

Then a pillow landed in Syaoran's face. "That wasn't nice Xiao-Lang! Tricking your nice sisters!" the girls squealed. "So who's your girlfriend?!"

"A girl named Jenny," Syaoran grinned. "You'll meet her soon."

"Yayayayay! Sister-in-law for us! And lets adopt Sakura!"

Syaoran laughed. Finally, Yelan arrived back in the apartment. "Well, it seems the butler's taking his time, but I'll just stay up here." She glided over to take a seat.

"Mother, Syaoran's girlfriend is a girl named Jenny! We'll meet her soon!" the girls chirped, mimicking Syaoran's words.

Yelan fanned herself gracefully. "Oh really?" she smiled a little at Sakura. "So who's this?"

"Sakura, one of my close friends." Syaoran scratched his head, it was getting funny having to explain it.

"She has a kind aura," Yelan nodded to Sakura, knowingly. As if she knew so much more. She had a way with those things. She would easily see right through anything her son felt.

**…a little later…**

"Moshi moshi,"

"Hi!"

"Oh, hey Jenny," Syaoran fiddled with the phone, held between his shoulder and ear. In his hands he held a knife and orange, curtsey of Fuutie's request on food. "What's up?"

"well, today………….." went the phone. Syaoran listened halfmindedly, with an occasional "Uh huh," or something similar.

"Okay, so you'll be over in ten minutes?" a pause. "Yeah, okay then. Ja," he turned off the phone and neatly dropped it, still preparing food.

"Hey, Syaoran, you need any help?" Sakura made her way over to the kitchen area, escaping the sisters. She leaned over the counter to inspect how the work was going.

"Ahhh, forget it." Syaoran shrugged and put down the utensils. Then turning to face everyone, suggested, "How 'bout we all just go out?"

**… 'Out'…**

"Oooh, what else is there to see?!" Syaoran cringed slightly at the chosen words that came from his sisters. He had heard that phrase at least a dozen times already. But then, it had been his idea to go give them a show of the town. Still, Yelan had decided on staying inside to rest from the trip.

"Oh, I know! Have you seen our high school yet?!" Sakura chirped in. "Well, it's not really anymore, but, you know!"

"Sure!" four voices cheered, letting Sakura lead the way.

Syaoran ran a hand through his hair casually, following. Next to him was Jenny, laughing slightly. "Your sisters seem sweet!"

"Ohhh…" he gave her a look of disbelief. "Suuuuure they are…a little bit of an overdose though."

At last in front of the school, Sakura proudly began the tour session. "This is Seijuu High, home to the Lions. The Lions have divisions in both football and soccer, each with quite good records." Sakura grinned. "Say, Syaoran was on the soccer team too." Then she continued. "Seijuu high was…"

After a minute or two more of Seijuu history, the group moved on.

"Oh, I know what next!" this time it was Jenny's input. She nodded at Sakura, then whispered something to her.

"Oh, _those_," Sakura agreed, shooting Syaoran an assuring look that said 'We'll be riiiiiight back! Meet you at Tomoeda park, penguin playground!' and without hesitation, Sakura and Jenny ran off.

Syaoran shrugged and started walking in the direction of the park. His sisters stood next to him, two on each side.

"Little Wolf, you look so grown up now!" Fuutie grinned.

"And handsome! But that's no surprise, seeing as you have us as sisters!" Shiefa remarked wisely. She patted Syaoran's head, although she had to stand on her toes to reach, now that he was taller.

"Ya know," Fu came into the conversation thoughtfully. "The Clan members would loooove to see how you've turned out," she assured. "There was a meeting about the new generation of Li's a week or two ago."

Syaoran carelessly nodded. He didn't care too much for returning a visit to the solemn ways of the Clan. "Oh."

"Dad was there." Shiefa added in. She fidgeted with her fingers a little at the topic. She knew what would come next.

"Oh, _him_." The words came from Syaoran's mouth raw and hard. "You know how much I hate _him_." He seared.

Shiefa sighed, knowing Syaoran was about to start.

"_He_left us. _He_ didn't really give a damn about us, all five of us or Mother. _He_ waited until I was born, the _5th_ child before telling Mother that _he_ didn't care. Before _he_ left us."

Silence fell upon the group for a moment or two, although it seemed an impossible task. The impossible only held for a little, though.

"You know," Fanren quietly said. She had been listening quietly the whole time, but now took center. "you're right." She faintly smiled at Syaoran. They were near the park now, walking down a lane of various different trees. The whole environment comforted at Fanren's way of kind words. "To leave us, after all that time when we thought he cared for us. That was wrong." She looked up at the bright sky that hung above. "But maybe it would have been worse if he never left."

At this, Syaoran bit his lip, looking down at the road.

After seeing Syaoran do that, Fanren continued. "Selfish of him, yes. But at least we knew the truth. Sometimes it hurts the most when you're pretending. Both to the person who pretends, and the people being lied to. Being to selfless hurts. It's inhumane."

**_Be selfish. Do things to make you happy._**

****

Those words flashed in Syaoran's head. He had heard them before, somewhere…he traced his memories, trying to figure it out.

"I'm not saying he did the right thing, though, overall. I'm not protecting him, giving him a defense though, Syaoran." She looked to see how Syaoran was holding up. "I hate the fact that he led on the ones who loved him. That he let them believe that he cared. I think it's better to know the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Rather than live in a fake reality, where all those feelings really aren't there. It hurts to think you could be led on so easily, and really not have anything, but think it's all there. And it just hurts too much, to have to lead someone on like that, at the cost of pretending all the time, even if you really don't want it."

Syaoran knew those words. They were Jenny's. At graduation. The ones he had ignored. Suddenly, a bit of guilt leaked into him. And Jenny…was the one he was leading on. "I don't want to ever be like _him_." Syaoran said dully. Inside, he could already see a connection.

"I know you won't." Fuutie added, knowing that the 'moment' of seriousness Fanren had brought had broken. "But, you do have his eyes," she smiled. "But that's all, right? Promise? I dun want you to do anything like that,"

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "Really? I have _his_ eyes?" he cocked an eyebrow, inquiring.

"Yep," Fuutie agreed. "Sure do. So about that promise?"

"—" He started to reply. Luckily, he was interrupted.

**"SCONES ARE HEREEE!!!!!!"**

Syaoran breathed a bit of relief, he didn't know how to respond to his sister. If he lied, that would be the exact opposite of what he was supposed to promise. In he didn't that would just be…_agh__!_ He shook off the confusing thoughts. Then at seeing Sakura and Jenny running towards the group with a handful of scones, he let his jaw drop a little.

Four sisters plus one brother plus one girlfriend plus one friend who is a girl but not girlfriend but liked by girlfriends's boyfriend = a grand total of **"****SEVEN SCONES!" **they came rushing towards them happily. (hehe, can you keep up with the complex math? I can't e.e ::rushes for calculator::)

"Uh, are you sure that…" Syaoran had a look of disbelief on his face.

"Phwee!" the scones went flying. At least they were in a carton. If only someone could catch it…

Syaoran expertly dashed to save Sakura from her fall, catching her. Seeing her flushed face from running, he started to blush, but it was cut off before he could turn red, by noticing the flying cones were coming to a landing.

"Syaoran, the sconeeesss!" whined his sisters.

He rolled his eyes and ran back to catch up with the scones. He held out his hands, getting ready to make the cath. Closer, closer…

**SAFE**

(dun worry, just think of in the first spidy movie -.- when he catches the food with MJ =P)****

Sakura sweatdropped, Jenny sweatdropped, Fu Fuutie, Shiefa, and Fanren sweatdropped.

"Nani?"

"Well, we got scones…you okay Syao?"

"Yayayayay! Scones! Go Little Wolf! That catch should put you in baseball!"

**… Night …**

Thanks to Fu, Syaoran's apartment was booked full with six other occupants. His Mother slept in his room, his sisters in the guest room and living room, while Jenny, Sakura, and himself found little spaces to set up in the living room as well. Jenny had beamed at the idea that she would be getting closer to her boyfriend. Sakura had insisted on not staying, worried that it would be a hassle. Still, she gave in eventually. In the still of Syaoran's apartment, one voice murmured restlessly. "…no…"

Sakura tossed and turned in her pile of sheets where she lay in on the living room floor. Her hands unconsciously rose above her, as if trying to grab something. "Stop it Brend—" she was now on her back, rusting again.

From the murmuring, Syaoran listened under his covers, also in the living room where he had ended up slumbering. He watched Sakura in her sleep, obviously having a nightmare. Every few moments she would mutter something in a hoarse voice of fear. _Should I wake her?_

"Just be quiet…!" she strained out, her eyes shut tight. "Don't tell me…" she rolled over so that her back was to Syaoran and he couldn't hear her so well anymore. "Why did you choose her…" was something he could somewhat make out. "Just stop!" finally Sakura had straightened out, and even sat up. She didn't stop there. "Go away…!!!" she swatted a hand out and stood up… _Oh please don't let her knock into something, _Syaoran bit his lip. Time to stop this dream. He scampered upright, trailing Sakura as she made her way around the room, until she… "Ahh!"

He was guessing he had tripped over one of his sisters, lined up against the wall. She had knocked right into them, and then almost into the wall…but instead into Syaoran.

"Oh…" she seemed to have regained consciousness, and blinked in the dark, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Then she saw Syaoran, supporting her from the trip. "Err…gomen!"

Syaoran was lucky it was dark already, because he felt his cheeks flame. "That's okay Sakura…did you have a bad dream?" he stood her upright.

"…" Sakura looked down at the floor, ignoring Syaoran's eyes. "Yeah." She shivered, despite how stuffy the apartment was with so many people in it.

"Uh…" Syaoran looked around at the quiet atmosphere. "You okay?" was all he said.

Sakura shrugged, putting on a smile. Then gestured her head at the balcony outside his apartment. (hehe, fancy and expensive apartment) "Yeah…can I get some fresh air? Just for a minute."

Syaoran nodded, "Oh, sure," he let Sakura walk to the balcony, then retreated back to his sleeping mat. _She should be alright now._

Sakura unlatched the lock on the sliding door, then stepped up to meet the railing. She sighed, letting the faint wind from the height of the balcony take over. The dream was blurry, but she remembered Brendan and Ruri. It still hurt. She closed her eyes, calming herself. She needed that.

He heard a cry of some sort. Straining his ears, Syaoran tried to listen. Sure enough, a kind of wimper came through the air, delicate. He stood up without a sound, carefully dodging around the lumps of bodies sprawled in sleep, until he reached Sakura. Her back faced him, and looked out at the town, dark, with a few dotted shines every here and there.

"Hey Syaoran."

Syaoran didn't move, not sure if he should try to comfort Sakura.

"Ugh, just thinking about some stuff, don't worry about me." A sniffle.

"But you were crying."

"Not anymore." Sakura turned, a small smile traced over her lips. Her face was pale, but shines from her tears reflected off her skin. "Thanks for coming, though."

"No problem." Syaoran finally joined Sakura at the rail, leaning against it like she did.

"You're a good friend." Her hair blew in the breeze gently, settling around her peacefully. She sighed, now feeling a little better. "I'm glad we met, ne?"

"Yeah, same with you," Syaoran grinned. "You've helped me a lot. Now I've got –" he nodded back towards Jenny's sleeping figure, "thanks to you."

A laugh escaped. "You're welcome." She looked down at her hands before her, strumming them on the railing. A tear trailed down her cheek none the less.

And to her surprise, she felt Syaoran's finger stop it, halfway down her cheek. "See, you're still crying."

"Oh well." Sakura shrugged. Syaoran really was someone she would want to know for the rest of her life. He was there for her now, and hoped he would be that same good friend always.

**…Later…**

After staying up with Sakura until she was ready to go back to sleep, Syaoran crawled back onto his sleeping mat, ready to sleep. They had talked some more, and he had done his best to comfort her. That was the least help he could do, seeing as how much she had done for him in that deal, even if it had finished long ago. Although he was dead tired, it took a while for him to fall asleep though. There were a few thoughts running through his mind, things he had to do soon.

**……**

The day was sunny, like most others this summer. There was something good about the feel, a quality in the air that made even Syaoran want to float. After all, he was sitting across from Sakura. They were at a café, easily chatting over some things they were going to do for the summer. A dish of truffles and cookies was placed in the middle of the table between them, while two coffees were at their sides.

"So Toya's going away for a week, doing stuff with his friends," Sakura continued describing plans.

Syaoran nodded in understanding.

"And Dad has some archeological dig later in the summer, so he's be away for two weeks…"

Syaoran watched the way Sakura calmly explained all of this. He picked a chocolate cookie from the tray, munching on it while listening.

"So what are you doing this summer? I've said a lot," Sakura laughed. "My turn listen."

Syaoran shrugged. "Maybe a summer job?"

Sakura laughed, showing that beautiful smile of hers, guaranteed to make anyone feel good. "A summer job? That's no fun!"

And suddenly, Syaoran found himself stop laughing along. He found himself leaning over the table, and closing the gap between him and Sakura, giving her…a kiss.

**……**

Authoress's Note: Ohohoho…this chappy was funness, pure funness. A bit weird, but fun. I guess the end most of u can figure out about, if u know…well anyways…how my sentimentally thingy with Fanren got through ok. -;; a bit confusing with four sisters going on and such…e.e. Can you keep up with all four? I can't - I personally liked Fanren's speeth though…lolz. P.S. I just put out my first one-shot! It's called Fall and it's a Meiling one-shot…read well, hope u liked this chap! Remember, tell me what you want to happen, suggestions on how to get S&S are more than welcome ::needs help:: eheh, not sure how that's gonna happen. ::cue the audience to gasp at Authoress's lack of plan:: eheheh…o wellz. Once again, I've reached a 10 page chapter! Wow…Drop a review, ne? =)

P.S., replying to something in chap 11: ragam() who reviewed, mentioned that Sakura and Tomoyo were friends from 'jk'…umm…didn't know what that stood for -.- ::denseness:: but sry for the 'error'. Just, this ficcy is AU, and I had intentionally changed things. So the time where the two met and became friends was changed, intentionally, so yeah…sorry if anyone was confused or anything. Thanks for telling me errors you see though! Critiques are always open! So I was then asked what kind of an author am I? Was that in a bad way? TT.TT well, to answer that…Umm…a 12 year old. Seriously. So sorry if I make mistakes…u'll just hafta put up with it I try my best…though I'll be 13 in Nov. hehe…


	13. The Surprise

****

**Transformations**

****

**Chapter 13: The Surprise**

**By AutumnIllusion**

**Authoress' notes:** o geez. Where to start? Well, I'll be explaining why I haven't updated _anything_ in, what, the past 7 months::shudders: but that's gonna take a loongggg time so I'll write it at the end of this…but I don't wanna keep you waiting more than you already have (my gosh, the last time I updated Transformations was practically a year ago::look of horror: gomen nasai! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, for sticking with me…P Responses to u guys at the end…Well excuses later, story now…

**DISCLAIMER:** ahh now that I'm back, the disclaimers are too…but I'm too lazy to make this interesting. I don't own CCS, or Gwen Stefani -.-;;, only el ploto…yeah…

**Decicated to: **The whole Dance Ensemble, they're the reason I live…us "frootloopy kids" hehe

_And suddenly, Syaoran found himself stop laughing along. He found himself leaning over the table, and closing the gap between him and Sakura, giving her…a kiss._

**……**

"…"

Face turned down in what would be called embarrassment, judging by the flush shades of pink staining his entire face (though half hidden by the downward angle taken), Syaoran took a profound interest in the contents of his cup, clamped between his nervous hands. Those contents, though really nothing to care much about, as Syaoran stared into it, were listed as; the remaining of his half drunken black tea, shredded bits of tea leaves stuck to the insides of the mold, and the palm-sized reflection of Sakura's face, rippling slightly with the passing breeze. Wait, was that a puzzled look on her face? Syaoran's nerves bent further, and he timidly took a quick sip of his tea, before looking down again.

"Umm…Syaoran…?"

"Y-yes, Sakura!" stammering, he responded the sweet but confused voice as soon as it reached his ears.

****

"Syaoran, look at me, hm?" Cheeks burned into another shade of deep crimson as Sakura tilted Syaoran's head upward, until they were at equal eye level.

"Oh, sorry about that Sakura," Syaoran started, and snapped up, straightening his posture nervously. "I was just-"

"No, I'm sorry too Syaoran!" The two spoke at the same time, each trying to squeeze in their explanations. "Its just that-"

"Oh, you first!" Syaoran exclaimed quickly, waving his hand. He pressed his lips into a smile, a completely petrified one at that.

"Oh, okay then…" Now it was Sakura's turn to look down, and she fidgeted with the embroidered hem on her skirt. "…well, its just…" suddenly she looked back up, and taking Syaoran's limp hand from the table, held it between hers. "…its just, I can't return those feelings."

"…oh…" Syaoran squeaked in a rather high pitched voice that was quite the mismatch for his character. "I completely understand and respect your feelings…"

"Really? Well, that's good Syaoran, because- this shhhh is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

Now, if a squeaky voice was out of character for Syaoran, Sakura's outburst of Gwen Stefani-ness was even more so. Caught completely off guard by her words, Syaoran jumped back a foot or two.

"Wait…umm, Sakura…?"

"B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

Dear lord, now it was the whole café singing it.

And by the whole café, it included Tomoyo and Eriol- ah yes, that dang Eriol sitting at the next table over.

"B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

"AHHH!"

Syaoran found himself in a rather uncomfortable situation, that being twisted and tangled within his sheets. But then again, looking around the dark room which was his living room…that was ten, a hundred times better than some other uncomfortable situation, say being stuck in a café full of people with a bad case of _Hollaback Girl _Fever. Much better to be here indeed.

Untangling himself from the sheets wrapped around him, Syaoran stood up, staying still for a moment or two while his eyes adjusted to the dark around him. His arms and face were covered in sweat, and it chilled him in what he guessed was night, or early morning. As his focus cleared, the dark shapes around him came to be familiar as his couch, television, lamp, 4 sisters in various spots around the room, and then Jenny, and…Sakura.

_It was just a dream. A goddamn dream. Actually no, I'd call that a nightmare._

Stepping cautiously over various objects covering the floor, Syaoran made his way to the kitchen. He opened a cupboard, taking a glass, and then held it under the faucet, letting it fill with water. He held the glass to his lips, and slowly drank from it, letting his eyes close. _Calm down. It was just…a dream. Dreams…aren't real._

Syaoran leaned back against the kitchen counter, staring blankly across his apartment, out past the balcony, even past the faint city lights. Boy did he have some conflicts. _That dream…I shouldn't have. I can't let that even happen outside of anything besides a dream. I'm supposed to love Jenny._ He folded his arms against his chest, suddenly overwhelmed with a cold chill, a chill carrying guilt and confusion. Sighing, he poured the rest oh the water down the sink. _And last of all…what the was with that dream! I mean…hollaback girl. Geez._ He shook his head, in loss for explanation. _Fuutie played that song WAY too many times since she's arrived._

**……**

"Aww, already?"

Syaoran's four siblings all held mirroring images of a disappointed pout. They looked towards their mother, Yelan, hoping to sway their fate.

"Can't we stay for just a _little_ longer?" the four chorused, looking back to their mother.

Syaoran watched this scene from the balcony, with half a mind in listening to whatever was going on to his sister's dismay. It was Sunday, three days after his family had made that unexpected, and very gut-dropping visit to his apartment. Three days, when said out loud, seemed like barely any time at all, as Shiefa for one pointed out to Yelan, as the pouting young women (though not really acting like that mature title) tried to sway their early departure.

"We haven't even gotten to, umm…" Fu raised a finger, trying to conjure up another point for them to stay. "to, umm…"

There really wasn't much that they _hadn't_ gotten to do, actually.

They had visited Syaoran's high school, gone to the local bakery (where they had _raided _the cakes section happily, thanks to their never-ending supply of money at hand- being from the Li Clan presented its many rewards), the park, the museum, met all of his friends, crashed his apartment, ohh, you get the idea…

The only thing that hadn't happened in the last few days was Syaoran getting any sort of rest.

On that mental note, he took this chance to try and accomplish that much; being able to relax. It seemed to be, in his current situation, that merely staying away from the scene on the balcony seemed to be a better option. But then again, he didn't think that he was getting anywhere towards relaxation, even if his family did…_tone it down a bit._

There were other things that kept him from relaxing, besides his family settling into his life the past few days…

For one, it could have been the wandering, faded dream that seemed to cross his mind over and over and over…

Now what dream was that again?

Could it be the one where Syaoran was packed in a car with his sisters for a five hour long road trip? Syaoran shuddered, remembering the reoccurring dream from his age of twelve, when that dream- or nightmare really was real, and he had to endure endless squealing and prodding on that long, long, _long_ trip to another Li estate. The dream still haunted him at times.

Or could it have been the one with the giant man in a bunny suit who mercilessly raced after Syaoran with a plastic flower that could be qualified as a lethal weapon in hand, as it yelled "Gaki! You damn Gaki I'm gonna-"

No it wasn't that one.

The dream that was keeping Syaoran restless was much worse than even those two nightmares.

Indeed, it was hearing Sakura's sweet voice whisper into his earlobe that she didn't return his feelings, whatever those feelings were which he had presented in a kiss- that was the most haunting.

Just the thought of it chilled his brain. Each time the events of that dream ran through his thoughts, it leaved heavy, icy footprints on his skull, even melting down to burn his heart.

Finally deciding that no matter how frustrating its possibilities contained, he would be better off listening to whatever his sisters were saying at the moment, anything that could momentarily take his thoughts away from that dream.

Syaoran walked back into his living room cautiously, and ran a hand through his messy hair slowly. He was greeted back to his world without dreams by the sounds of his siblings still at it, trying to find a way they could dominate his apartment for at least a few more days.

"But why do we have to leave so _early_?" protested a voice, Fuutie's.

Yelan, acknowledging her son's presence by the far end of the room, shot him a quick and knowingly glance. "We are needed at the Li estate for a most important clan meeting." Her voice firmly pressed, while her eyes, Syaoran had the feeling, told something along the lines of _there's actually another reason why we must leave_, one that her eyes also read _and you, Syaoran, I think know what that is…_

Syaoran just turned his head away, breaking off from his mother's eyes that seemed to bore into his very heart and soul, reading it and understanding it like an open book, though the task was far out of reach for himself. But yes, he supposed if his babbling siblings weren't bounding around his house and life, it would give him more time to think about that dream and his current situation.

In that case…

STAY FOREVER MY DEAREST SISTERS.

**……**

Despite the long conversation that had been shot back and forth through his apartment, Yelan, Fuutie, Fu, Shiefa, and Fanren had prepared for a departure. The next afternoon, Syaoran was entitled to carrying down four large cartoon patterned suitcases in an array of pinks, blues, and other pastels.

"Umm, Syao-chan, should I…can I help you with anything?" a cautious Jenny stood a few feet from Syaoran as he, with a brutally determined look in his eyes, lifted a suitcase-- a baby blue pastel with a cat in a hamburger presented on the front-- and prepared to lug it down three flights of stairs for the fourth, and thankfully last time.

Syaoran mumbled a "mm" before staggering to the stairwell. "Oh, it's okay Jenny...you don't have to carry any of this stuff, its really heavy, and…I don't think its that much fun, ahahah…"

"Oh, alright…be careful," Jenny sighed, and followed her boyfriend down the stairs, where she was nervous at hearing a few bumps and thuds. "Did you hit something?"

"Oh, no…" Syaoran's voice echoed throughout the stairs, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the door that read _Floor 1_ on it, "…the suitcase just did a few times…I'm okay."

Jenny laughed, and ran to catch up with Syaoran at the door. "Sure you are. You always say you're okay Syaoran, while you're really not, ya know?" she pulled open the door for him.

A moment passed, and the two looked into the other's eyes, hearing what Jenny had just said go through their mind deeper than what it had seemed before. Jenny was first to break away, looking back through the doorway. She was embarrassed to sound like she had meant any more than simply his assuredness when it came to physical awareness…not in emotional states, as it seemed to be true as well. "Go ahead," she nodded her head to the door.

"Alright," Syaoran heaved the suitcase back into his arms and passed, emerging outside where the car was parked.

Syaoran put the luggage down, and to his relief, the butler came around from the car's almost full trunk to take the suitcase from there.

"Ahh, I'm gonna miss you!" Fuutie bounded around the corner, closely followed by Shiefa, Fanren, and then Fu. One after another they flung their arms around Syaoran, bear hugging him to the near death.

"And we wanted to stay…with the wedding is so close!" Shiefa blurted, shaking her head thoughtfully.

Simultaneously, both Syaoran and Jenny turned a familiar shade of red. "_S-shut it_ Shiefa!" Syaoran stammered.

"But anyways, Little Wolf, remember, you promised to call us _every day_ so we can keep up on the wedding plans, alright? Don't forget!" Fu patted Syaoran's head a few times.

"W-what!" Syaoran shot a look at his sisters, "I never promised that!" he paused, thinking over what his sisters were blabbing about. "and I'm not having a wedding!"

"Oh, Little Wolf, you're so easy to provoke!" Fanren laughed, and followed by the others all agreeing.

"Miss' the car awaits," the butler announced, and bowed, before disappearing back into the driver's seat of the car.

"Awww," the four turned one last time back to Syaoran and Jenny. "You two be good!" they rounded their hugs for Syaoran and Jenny once again.

"Byebye now!" one after one they piled into the car, until only Yelan still stood before them.

"Xiao Lang, I hope you enjoy your summer…we will contact you once the meetings are over." Yelan smiled, and placed her hand on his head, smoothening out his hair a little. Her sleeves clinked with a small sound of bells, and she then turned to Jenny. "It was a pleasure to meet you Jenny, I hope I can have the chance to see you again next time I visit Xiao Lang."

"Oh, um yes, thank you, it was great meeting you too!" Jenny smiled and bowed.

"So long for now," Yelan bowed in return to the two, and then stepped into the car, before its engine revved and they were off, four sisters waving from the back.

"Phew, they're really…tiring." Syaoran stretched his arms up and yawned.

"Hehe, I think I can see…but they're really cool!" Jenny beamed, "so energetic!"

"Sure, but growing up stuck with four sisters all the time…_too_ engergetic." Syaoran shook his head at the thought.

_Bzz Bzz_

"Oh, is that mine?" Jenny looked down at her purse, and took out her vibrating cell phone. "Oh, look…Tomoyo's calling," she flipped the phone open, and answered. "Tomoyo? Whats up?"

After a moment of listening to "Mhms" and such, Jenny nodded saying, "okay then, see you in a bit." And clicked her phone back into her purse.

"You meeting up with Tomoyo today?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah…well actually, we both are! We're meeting up at 2 o'clock…Tomoyo says she's got a surprise for everyone!"

**……**

Once after hearing this news of Tomoyo and some "surprise" she had brought up the other day, Sakura had a quirky feeling about it. Being one of her closest companions over the many years of their childhood, she could sense it, no doubt, in her friend's tone.

It was that tone used when she asked Sakura to come over to her house to watch some "movies" when they really were endless clips of embarrassment featuring the one and only Sakura herself.

It was that tone used when Tomoyo would drop by to say hello, and…just happen to have a few new outfits for Sakura to try on.

Yes, this was the tone when Tomoyo Daidouji was up to some "ingenious" plan and wasn't letting on all that she knew.

So a bit reluctantly, Sakura made her way over to the Daidouji Residence where she had been instructed to meet at…

She glanced at her watch, and in horror realized that the ticking pink hands were on the 2 and the 6. "Two thirty! I'm late! Phweee!"

Now making a mad dash, Sakura paid no attention to the cherry blossoms down the lane, didn't even pay attention to the two familiar figures, Syaoran and Jenny, that is until they were yelling out her name.

"Hey, Sakura! Wait up!"

Realizing someone was calling her, Sakura dug her soles into the ground and stopped. She turned to see Jenny waving at her, and jogging to catch up, with Syaoran walking behind, hands in his pockets.

"Ohh, hi you guys! Sorry, I didn't see you…you're late too?" Sakura laughed shyly and waited up for the two.

Syaoran caught up with the two, "Late? Wait, Jenny, didn't you say we're meeting at 2?"

"Yup…"

Syaoran looked at his watch, and then back at Sakura. "Hey, sorry to tell you this, but…" he grinned at her, "you just ran that whole way for nothing."

"Phwee?"

"Sakura, you know, it's ten to 2. You're not late…" he held up her arm, pointing out that her watch, if looked at for a while, was not ticking at all. After a moment, he dropped her hand nervously, pushing his own back into his pockets. They laughed, watching Sakura's expression, a mixture between her state of out of breath, and being utterly shocked and confused.

"You know, that's just like you to do something like that, Sakura," Syaoran grinned, shaking his head in amusement. He ruffled her hair playfully.

"Hmph…" Sakura folded her arms dramatically. Her cheeks were hot and blushed from running quite a few blocks, but Syaoran didn't seem to be helping…

"Everybody in!" Tomoyo had opened immediately once the three had voiced her on the intercom at the front gate. She smiled happily, and ushered them inside. "Everybody here now? Alright…"

Tomoyo had led them to her living room, where Sakura beamed at seeing Eriol, Chiharu, Yamazaki, Naoko, and Rika already waiting.

They all took seats around the room, giving each other familiar nods that read '_yeah, she's up to something…_' but turned their attention quickly back to Tomoyo, waiting to see what she had come up with now.

"Well, we're now on summer vacation!" she started, enthusiastically, which was greeted with grins of approval, although that statement was already more than obvious. She paused slightly, and the others waited for her to go on, not having anything been explained. "And of course I know just how much some of you need a vacation…" Both Syaoran and Sakura had sworn they saw her eyes shoot a glance their way, but as soon as they could question it, Tomoyo continued. "so why not…go on a vacation together!"

**……**

So that was how Syaoran found himself in the present situation of being sandwiched between Jenny and Sakura on the three hour car ride to Tomoyo's "summer get away resort" …what that was exactly, he was not completely sure.

They had packed their bags enthusiastically the next day, and the day after, the nine teens had piled into a van and hit the road.

Now, it was the midpoint of the trip, where Syaoran was failing miserably to keep peaceful. There was his own tension bubbling and boiling inside him, with Jenny and Sakura both so close to him that their shoulders touched each time the car rattled over any unpaved point in the road. Even using his usually comforting thoughts of martial arts meditation was lacking its affect…possibly for reasons being that no "serene universe" or "rock is not moved by water" analogy seemed to exist in the presence of Yamazaki's repeating chant of "Ten thousand bottles of beer on the wall" brimming through the space within the car.

Shifting his position slightly after giving up any sort of mind relaxation, Syaoran loosely crossed his arms and closed his eyes, thinking that maybe the best option (not that there were many available at this point) was to try and fall asleep. _Yeah, and maybe I'll have another encore of Sakura's rejection/hollaback girl fever_ he sarcastically remarked to himself. As the point ran through his mind, Syaoran suddenly changed his point of view and decided that even "Ten thousand bottles of beer on the wall" was preferable to another nightmare, where if it _did_ occur, would surely receive some stares by everyone else within the car.

"Hey, speaking of beer…" Yamazaki had broken off from the point of "one-thousand two-hundred forty-three bottles of beer" although Eriol was still happily stomping along to it in the row behind him, with a swaggering voice as if he really had somewhere near that said number of beers ingested inside him. "…did you know that this song's origins reflected the harsh society of monkeys back in the time when-"

To his right, Sakura was turned to face the seats behind, an expression of deep interest upon her, as she soaked up every word that Yamazaki told.

"Takashi Yamazaki, stop saying things like that!" Chiharu's voice raged throughout the car, with such force that the bodyguard seated in the front seat swiveled around swiftly at the surprise.

"Ooohh, she used your full name! Sounds like you're in trouble," Jenny winked, also turned around to see.

"Oh, but dear Chiharu…why should I stop saying '_things like that_', while I speak only of my far and expansive knowledge?" Yamazaki cooed, which was responded to with a pound on his head, courtesy of "dear Chiharu".

"Heyyy, come on Yamazaki, you hafta keep singing with me…!" Eriol slurred, and waved a hand happily. "We're up to one-thousand two-hundred thirty-eight! Ahahaaa…!"

Syaoran raised an eyebrow at Eriol and his wavering attitude. "Yeah, please, someone join in. Eriol, you have a horrible singing voice…someone sing with him, maybe we can drown him out…" he smirked, unable to resist shooting the remark at his friend.

"Well, Syao-chan, I've never heard _you_ sing either, so why don't you show us?" Eriol shot back, grinning lazily.

"Don't call me Syao-chan!"

""Hehe…" Sakura grinned. "But Syao-chan sounds so cute!" she stuck her tongue out at him. "And you're really easy to provoke, even your sisters mentioned it…" she teased him lightly.

Hearing her, Syaoran bit his lip slightly and looked away, trying to focus again on Eriol, even if his singing _was_ horrible. "Oh, uh, thanks…" he distinctly heard Eriol down to one-thousand two-hundred twenty-one.

"Everybody join in!"

"One-thousand two-hundred thirty-seven bottles of beer on the wall..."

Syaoran sighed, finally giving in to the now, louder than ever, chorus of whatever number of bottles of beer on the wall. This would be _some vacation_. Prepare for the worst, as always.

**……**

**Hououza- **ahh, well as u just saw in this chapter, your guess was completely right! hehe oo November birthday ppl! Yay! …although I missed November, cause I didn't update in so long…eek…well then there's this year, and that's not so far, hehe…

**Crystaleyez-** yes, boys really are strange creatures…--;; well, this wasn't completely a cliffhanger, hm? Lol

**Pnaixrose-** hehe thanx for the compliment…I'm 13 now! Whoot, don't I feel so grown up? not really though…

**Chikichiki- **well now you found out, right? although…it's still a mystery in general, anything that boys do, lol…

**Sai-chan-** ahhh well…I'm updating now :nervous laugh: heh, sorry for the wait!

**Angel-** nope, S&S all the way! )

**I DO NOT OWN DBZ- **hehe that was fun to see in my inbox hehe hope my chap was longer than your review…P

**Ryu-Faiya-** ahh, at the rate I updated, I guess I'm already dead, hehe…come back to life? P

**Blah-** ahh, you'll see…

**Camera-Happy-** ohohoho indeed, Tomoyo's gonna brew up some trouble…

**Everyone else- **ahhh, thank you for the reviews! Hopefully you're still interested, hehe…

**Authoress' Notes:**

Okay first thing. "Each time the events of that dream ran through his thoughts, it leaved heavy, icy footprints on his skull, even melting down to burn his heart." Eeesh, that line was soooooo cliché! Heheh, but it stuck somehow…hehe just felt like pointing out my cheesiness.

Okay, so here comes the long explanation. Really long. Chances are you don't wanna read this practically essay detailing my life for the past 7 months (haha) so its completely fine if you skip this (and go straight to your review ) cause anyone who does read this is crazy lol…) but if u wanna know what exactly had been going on, here it is…just so you know I didn't get abducted by aliens for the past while or sumthin, lol. That's why I'm putting this here, at the end of the chap, lol…read it if you'd like, but then again you probably just want to read the story P. But o well I need to get this off my chest, I feel so guilty --, heheh.

So where did it start? Or should I say, where did it end? Last time I wrote anything (excluding essays for school, blah) being Fanfiction was I think December 2004. :shudder: and why did I stop? I'm not really sure. I was really overwhelmed with a lot of things I guess. Also, at that time I was really starting to get into dance…it really became my #1 priority. I was dancing with my afterschool group _Dance Ensemble_ (who absolutely rock, I love those guys D) all the time after school, Saturdays, etc…and I was working on pieces which after working so much eventually got me sick, and I was like that for a while…so I was just completely out of it, I even quit swim club because of all the things going on. Then January I was still really busy with personal stuff and dance going on that just really made it too tiring to write anything, physically and mentally. For the next 3 months I was constantly working on 3 dance shows, rehearsals each day and weekends, etc. but don't get me wrong, that was exactly what I wanted to be doing. I guess at that time I was smack in the middle of all of it, and I didn't have the desire to sit and write. Dance had become my life and I love it(sounds corny but It really is ) and I wasn't ready to write at the same time, heheh. And I guess after not writing for so long, I just wasn't into it. I mean, I couldn't even read any Fanfiction, let alone write Fanfiction. I looked back at these stories and I thought, first: I don't even know where this story is leading, I can't write something without knowing what its supposed to do. Two: I didn't recognize my own writing, I'd say "I said this! I don't even know this word!" so I didn't think I'd be able to write, I'd be too dumb or something, heheh. And this was my last year in middle school, which I absolutely had the time of my life in (! D), and I was just so wrapped up in trying to keep up with it, absorb it all before it finished, and I just had no desire to write, it was just like a big burden in the back of my mind. But now that it's summer, I have time to sit here and dig into this pile and start to clear it up….


End file.
